I took a quick look at one of your links. The future for the ultra-orthodox Jew is scary. I really wonder about the psyche of this sect when its young men can no longer get simple labor jobs. How do they justify their religious position?

In Canada, occupations that used to a haven for high school dropouts are no longer that safe haven. The Canadian army requires a high school diploma. The oilpatch and mining industry have much stricter safety regulations, which workers must be able to read and follow safety instructions.

Your stat on the birth rates in kibbutz is noteworthy. Raising kids right takes a lot of time on the parents. If parents had more opportunities to share the load, maybe women would be more willing to have bigger families.

Quebec went through an interesting change in the 1950s and 1960s. English speakers were getting all the good jobs in Quebec because — — — — — — — the Catholic Church were encouraging the Quebecois to have lots of kids. This meant not too many Quebecois kids getting educated — and doomed to the bottom of the economic ladder.

Then something happened. The Quebecois started asserting itself against both the English establishment and the Catholic Church. The Quebecois are in all professions. Maybe 10% of the Quebec population is a true Catholic these days. Quebecois birth are way down as well. I’m not sure what happened, but it is an interesting transition that took only 20 years.