Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - July 2009
A new report has found that, for the problem of Canada’s aging workforce, immigration is not as viable solution as touted by public officials.
The report, conducted by the C.D. Howe Institute, which researches social and economic policy, used current census figures to create various population simulations to predict future demographics.
The results showed that even a drastic raise in immigrant numbers had “startlingly little affect” on the overall demographic in Canada.
“I was surprised by how weak immigration is, on its own, as a tool to affect these things,” said Howe Institute CEO William Robson. “People in Canada generally feel very positively about immigration, so it would be nice if something that we like turned out to be the answer to some of these things that otherwise can look a little threatening.”
Recently, public officials have been increasingly trumpeting immigration as the solution to Canada’s labour needs, particularly as the baby-boom generation enters into retirement age.
However, this report found that there are more effective solutions to be explored, such as postponing retirement age, raising the country’s birthrate, and boosting the domestic productivity, which many comparative studies show is lacking versus other developed societies.
Source: Vancouver Sun
