> The issue with demographic decline is not just quantity of people, but also quality of people
"Quality of people". Spoken like a true tech person.
"Quality of people". Spoken like a true tech person.
Would you choose an employee, or worse, a spouse, with no positive qualities? If no, you are judging people by their qualities too.
That's obviously not the case in this context but it can get confusing so you should just avoid it. There are legit reasons to be suspicious of anyone talking like that. It's better to say "expected economic value" or "readiness to integrate" when talking about immigrants so you don't get mistaken for a racist.
[1] Used here as a slur.
A more natural concept of overall human quality would be something like a linear combination of individual qualities in a multidimensional space.
a. Smart person - good, positive coefficient.
b. Diligent person - good, positive coefficient.
c. But works for the mob as a money launderer - bad, very high negative coefficient, probably high enough to drag the overall combination under the neutral hyperplane, so to say.
Etc. etc.
That 19 year old dark skinned refugee from Syria who has just arrived in Poland in 2015, doesn't speak the language, is physically fit, basic school education, quite some trauma to process though. That's what the far right racist nationlists there would have called a low quality human. Don't use their language if you don't want to be associated with their views.
And indeed, if their trauma is not processed and they are left in a ghetto with other traumatized folks, that's a recipe for violence to eventually erupt. But if they get help by a psychologiest and a chance to integrate, they can contribute to society immensely, build a life, become the best neighbors you could wish for.
Now, what is the "quality" of such a person? Or maybe rather: What is the quality of how we treat them.
BTW you don't know many Syrians if you consider them dark skinned. They are classical Mediterranean people, the whitest of all Arabic-speaking nations. You won't be able to tell a random Syrian from a random Greek.
Tech people look at things in terms of - is this true or not.
And "Quality of People" is perfectly accurate description.
How it makes you feel about it completely irrelevant.
Let us know which company you are having hiring responsibilities for, then people can draw conclusions where to apply (or avoid it).