Why immigration is beneficial for Canada’s economy

As the benefits of immigration are being debated by political players in the US and EU, it has, however, been proved beyond doubt that the economy of Canada is highly dependent on its immigrants who power its workforce.

Immigrants employed in Canada increased by 261,200 in this year up to May, a rise of 6.6 percent from the corresponding period a year ago, according to Statistics Canada’s latest numbers. But the number of native Canadians holding jobs fell by 93,000 during the same period, the first annual fall outside a recession period in decades.

Bloomberg is quoted as saying that the above data indicates two things. One is that tumbling commodity prices are transporting economic activity from resource regions, which have lower immigrant populations, such as Alberta, to larger urban settlements, such as Vancouver and Toronto, which have higher percentages of migrant workers.

The data, more than anything, shows how fast Canada’s baby boomer population is ageing and leaving the workforce. This is true even for growing cities. It also reflects the onset of Canada’s crisis. Put in a nutshell, Canada sans immigrants, who are much younger and better educated, will reach an economic roadblock.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is quoted by a financial information company as saying that Canada is a reference point for immigration since it has one of the fastest-ageing populations amongst developed nations, and it needs more immigrants than others to plug scarcity of its workforce. In fact, immigrants have accounted for more than half of Toronto’s labour force in the last eight months.

If you have been mulling about shifting to Canada on a work visa or on permanent residency, come to Y-Axis, which will show you various options.