Immigration is key to Canada’s economic growth
Credit to Author: Canadian Immigrant| Date: Thu, 11 Jul 2019 01:31:24 +0000
Canada is facing a labour market crunch. By 2030, all its 9.2 million baby boomers will have reached retirement age – placing the country under economic and fiscal pressure. A recent report from The Conference Board of Canada, Can’t Go it Alone: Immigration is Key to Canada’s Growth Strategy, evaluates various solutions to help strengthen the country’s labour force and economy.
“The report quantifies how immigration is the most powerful fuel to replenish our workforce numbers,” says Pedro Antunes, chief economist at the board, adding that “These solutions, including better labour market integration for underrepresented groups, identify how to maintain a growing labour force to stimulate economic activity, as well as the tax revenues required to fund vital social expenditures such as rising health care costs.”
Highlights of findings from the study include:
- Between 2018 and 2040, 13.4 million workers will exit the labour force, far greater than the 11.8 million that will leave Canadian schools to replace them.
- Due to its aging population and low fertility rate, Canada needs new sources of talent to enter the labour force to maintain its high living standards.
- Improved participation rates could add 2.2 million workers to the labour force by 2040, including more women, Indigenous people, and persons with disabilities, as well as $101 billion to the economy.
- Immigration will remain a formative solution, accounting for all of Canada’s net labour force growth — 3.7 million workers — and one-third of the economic growth rate between 2018 and 2040.
The federal immigration minister Ahmed Hussen points out that immigration matters a lot to Canada and the report “highlights that our economy depends on immigration and that we continue to make a concerted effort to attract the best talent from around the world to fill labour shortages today and for the future.”
You can access the full copy of the report here.