World Bank urges aging Eastern Europe to take in immigrant workers

BRUSSELS, Belgium_Countries in eastern Europe will have to open up to new waves of immigrants to prevent their economies being hobbled by labor shortages caused by rapidly aging populations, a senior World Bank economist warned Wednesday. After years of exporting workers westward, Poland, Ukraine, Bulgaria and the Baltic states must bring in labor from outside Europe to offset their demographic decline, or forget hopes of catching up with Western economies, said Pradeep Mitra, the World Bank's chief economist for Europe and Central Asia. "There's no question that immigration will be needed to fill labor shortages," Mitra told reporters. "The trade off is: accept migration in a regulated way or don't be serious about converging with EU 15 living standards." Mitra was referring to the 15 Western nations who made up the European... [read full story]