The pending labour shortage

The pending labour  shortage is real  and the Canadian government is quite aware and frantically addressing this issue.  With one of the oldest work forces in the civilized world in terms of average age, whole scale retirement is expected in the next few years  in several key industries such as real estate, management, insurance, construction, teaching, medicine, engineering, IT, etc. Against this backdrop, the government is now taking proactive measures to ensure the infusion of adequate labour as these workers begin to retire .

Accordingly, it will have no choice but to streamline the skilled workers’ process and increase the number of skilled immigrants that come into the country through its selective immigration policy. With a seemingly small population of 35 million and about a quarter of this number in the workforce, this massive intake of immigrants is certainly inevitable and well overdue.

This could not be truer given the fact that the average Canadian family has 1.9 kids, a far lesser percentage when compared with other western countries. This, coupled with the rapidly aging workforce make the recruitment of skilled immigrants instrumental to the survival of the Canadian economy and maintenance of current capacity levels.

Also at stake, is the ability of the Canadian workforce to compete with other bustling economics around the world. This ability is severely threatened with the current dearth of skilled and quality workers. In this age of globalization, the need for immigrants with the highest skills levels and global experience could not be underestimated. With the 11th largest economy in the world, Canadian companies must now rely almost entirely on immigrants to remain relevant.