Benefits of Immigration for Solving Labor and Cultural Issues
The population of the world is increasing at an alarming rate and is expected to reach 8 billion within the next few years (Davies and James 2016). However, one of the major problems that the world is facing currently is the problem of ageing population since it is seen that a significant amount of the population of the world is ageing (Nagarajan, Teixeira and Silva 2016). This is clearly visible when the case of the nations like China, Hong Kong and others are taken into consideration (Bloom et al. 2015). As a matter of fact, the percentage of ageing population of the nation of Hong Kong, that is, the percentage of people who are over the age of 65 years, is 16% and is expected to reach over 26.4% by the year 2036 (Gov.hk 2018). This is a cause of concern for the nation and the nation in order to resolve this issue has decided to allow the young immigrants from the adjoining region to enter into the nation. The liberals of the nation have agreed to the use of this option whereas the conservatives are against the use of this policy. The scope of the essay is to analyze the effectiveness of this approach of the national government of Hong Kong from the perspective of the ethical theories of Utilitarianism and Kantianism. The influx of the immigrants will help the nation to solve its critical labor issue and would also make the nation a multi-cultural one. This essay will discuss about the various ethical factors which justify this decision of the national government of Hong Kong.
The option which the nation of Hong Kong is considering for the resolution of the ageing population issues which it is facing currently is likely to provide various kinds of benefits to the nation. For example, Hong Kong is one of the emerging business markets of the world and the nation at the same time boosts of some of the largest organizations of the world like Advanced Card Systems Holdings, Bank of China, Cable TV Hong Kong, CITIC Bank International, Commercial Radio Hong Kong, Crocodile Garments, Hong Kong Airlines and others (Gov.hk 2018). However, because of the ageing of the population the nation is unable to get the desired number of employees and thus there is a “critical labor shortage”. This critical labor shortage is hindering the organizations to perform as per their maximum potential and thereby limiting the national growth. In order to meet the labor demands of these organizations the nation requires a significant number of individuals. Furthermore, it is also seen that because of the ageing population of the nation who are retiring every year the number of blue collar employees has also diminished in a substantial manner (Smith 2015). Thus, it can be said that allowing the entry of the immigrants is likely to help the nation to resolve this particular problem. Moreover, the influx of the immigrants is also likely to enrich the culture of the nation and make it a multi-cultural one, which currently boosts of Chinese people (Chand and Tung 2014). These in short are the two major benefits that the nation is likely to derive from the effective usage of the plan that they have devised.
Utilitarian Justification of Immigration Policy
The decision of the nation to allow the entry of the immigrants can be justified on the basis of the ethical theory of Utilitarianism. As per Barrow (2015) the theory of Utilitarianism states that the human beings should indulge in the kind of actions or activities which are likely to provide the maximum amount of benefits to the majority of the people. The decision of the nation of Hong Kong to allow the entry of the immigrants into their nation is likely to prove beneficial to both the nation under discussion here and also the immigrants as well. For example, the nation under discussion here will get the opportunity to resolve its critical labor issue and also will have a chance to make it a multicultural one. The immigrants are also likely to find a safe abode wherein they can not only fulfill the basic requirements of their life and also they would get the opportunity to fulfill the psychosocial needs of theirs (Newman and Newman 2017). At the same time, this is likely to help the immigrants to find jobs and also to overcome the horrors and also the tortures of their motherland as well (Newman and Newman 2017). Thus, it can be said that the decision of the nation of Hong Kong by providing mutual benefits to the majority of the individuals involved in the process is a justified one. It is true that to some extent this decision would place the youths of the nation at a great disadvantage however at the same time it needs to be said that the effective usage of this particular method is likely to help the nation in a significant manner in the longer run.
The decision of the nation when viewed through the lens of the ethical theory of Kantianism is likely to reveal insightful details. According to Gironi (2017) the most basic assumption of the ethical theory of Kantianism is the fact that the end totally justifies the methods or the actions which has been adopted for the achievement of the same. In this context, it can be said that the ultimate goal of the nation of Hong Kong currently is to resolve the labor as well as the cultural issues which it is facing. The conservatives of the nation are strongly protesting against his decision of the liberals of the nation by stating the fact that this particular course of action is likely to create resentment among the native youths of the nation. Furthermore, they have stated that the usage of this process would limit the opportunities that the youths of the nation are likely to get in a substantial manner. This would ultimately lead to frustration among the youths and this in turn would inhibit them from releasing their full potential (Chand and Tung 2014). Thus, the conservatives are of the opinion that the nation by doing good to the immigrants would ultimately be causing more harm to its own youths and this in turn limit the future prospects of the nation in a significant manner. Moreover, they have at the same time, stated that the nation instead of allowing the immigrants to enter the nation for the resolution of the labor issues should try to provide more opportunities to the youths for the resolution of the same. However, it needs to be said that the ultimate aim of the nation is to overcome its critical labor issues and also to make the nation a multicultural one. As per the theory of Kantianism, the path which the nation is adopting for the resolution of the critical labor issue is not of great significance as long as these issues are getting resolved and the ultimate aim of the nation is getting fulfilled. In addition to this, the option which the nation has devised for the resolution of the critical labor issue is likely to provide short-term as well as long-term benefits to the nation. Thus, it can be said that the decision of the nation is justified on the basis of the ethical theory of Kantianism.
To conclude, one of the major problems which the world is facing currently is the problem of its ageing population. This problem in-turn causes various issues or problems for the various nations of the world like labor crisis and others. Furthermore, it is seen that for the resolution of these issues the various nations have formulated different kinds of strategies. However, at the same time, these nations need to take into effective consideration the entities of ethics as well as morals for the decisions that they have taken and ensure the fact these decisions are completely justified by the various ethical theories.
References
Barrow, R., 2015. Utilitarianism: A contemporary statement. Routledge.
Bloom, D.E., Chatterji, S., Kowal, P., Lloyd-Sherlock, P., McKee, M., Rechel, B., Rosenberg, L. and Smith, J.P., 2015. Macroeconomic implications of population ageing and selected policy responses. The Lancet, 385(9968), pp.649-657.
Chand, M. and Tung, R.L., 2014. The aging of the world’s population and its effects on global business. Academy of Management Perspectives, 28(4), pp.409-429.
Davies, A. and James, A., 2016. Geographies of ageing: Social processes and the spatial unevenness of population ageing. Routledge.
Gironi, F. ed., 2017. The Legacy of Kant in Sellars and Meillassoux: Analytic and Continental Kantianism. Routledge.
Gov.hk 2018. Home. [online] Gov.hk. Available at: https://www.gov.hk/en/residents/ [Accessed 10 Oct. 2018].
Nagarajan, N.R., Teixeira, A.A. and Silva, S.T., 2016. The impact of an ageing population on economic growth: an exploratory review of the main mechanisms. Análise Social, pp.4-35.
Newman, B.M. and Newman, P.R., 2017. Development through life: A psychosocial approach. Cengage Learning.