Shortly after WW II, in the western countries the men came back from the war and started to have large families which lead to the baby boom generation. The influx of population meant that services had to increase which led to increase schools, portables, then bigger high schools, expansion of post-secondary education and eventually a bigger workplace. By many measures it was a good thing. In addition to the baby boom population the economy moved from rural to urban from manufacturing to service industries. Many new industries came and still continue which has benefited millions of people. If we jump today, the baby boom is retiring, family size is down and while robots will help, society needs people.

In an article by Riham Alkousaa of Reuters, she writes about a German town called Altena. The town has about 20,000 people and if you ever lived in a small town, it has the classic signs. Altena has been an industrial town since the Middle Ages and is the birthplace of wire production.

Ironworks is still manufactured, but the number of jobs has fallen. The German government had a policy of letting in immigrants to the country and the town of Altena said they wanted some. There was empty apartments, there was high job vacancy for some service jobs, there was a need for more population and the services that go with it. How did it work out?

People tried to make the immigrants welcome, with support services and volunteers to help them show the ropes.

In 2024 roughly half of the 100 additional arrivals from 2015 were still living in Altena. Most of the rest moved to the bigger cities. There are advantages and disadvantages to living in smaller cities and advantages and disadvantages to living in larger cities, it is understandable people move.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, when you buy a stock and really learn about its operations, often times the company is operating in smaller cities and play a significant role in the economy of the area. From a macro perspective, sometimes there are cuts and relocations among operations of the company, it has an effect on the communities. We often like change to areas that do not directly affect us, but in reality we are all connected.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.