Monday, November 26, 2007

Will the baby boom bring labour shortages?

The Progressive Economics Forum says no:

...It states that “no widespread labour shortages are expected to emerge over the next ten years” mainly because the Bank of Canada will ensure labour demand does not outstrip supply. (p1) There are expected to be some shortages of skilled workers at a detailed occupational level, but no generalized problem, and no generalized shortage of lower skill workers, despite the pending retirement of baby-boomers.

In fact, the report anticipates that the entry of highly-educated young Canadians and immigrants into the work force will be more than sufficient to meet our needs for highly-skilled workers. There is forecast be a 1.6% annual growth to 2015 in the number of jobs requiring a university degree, but this will be more than matched by 2.2% annual growth in the number of workers with university qualifications.

--Personally I seriously doubt that anybody will be able to predict anything in the economy ten years into the future. However, the number on the replacement of skilled workers highlights the advantages of the Canadian Immigration system over American system. Which one is more fair is an entirely different question. Get the full version here

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