Canada needs more immigrants to boost economy, university study concludes

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Canada needs an extra one million immigrants between now and 2021 in a move that would boost the country’s Gross Domestic Product by 2.3%, it is claimed.

It would mean an extra 100,000 per year and would add $14 billion to the government’s tax revenue coffers as well as boosting investment in housing and creating more demand for goods and services, according to a study by Canadian professor Tony Fang.

The report from University of York in Vancouver looked at the impact of large-scale immigration on the Canadian economy and took into account factors such as how much immigrants participate in the labour force, spending on government services and infrastructure.

It also looked at funds brought in by immigrants, labour market differences between migrants and the effect of large-scale immigration on Canadian born workers.

Fang, an associate professor of human resources in the faculty of liberal arts and professional studies, concludes that higher levels of immigration will boost the economy.

Canada already has the highest immigration rate per capita out of major countries and has programmes in place to try to deal with skill shortages.

Fang’s previous work has found that training and development doesn’t help immigrants get ahead in their careers, even though it benefits other employees.

He found that immigrant and non-immigrant professionals are equally likely to undergo training and development initiatives funded by employers. However, immigrants don’t reap the rewards of higher pay, promotions, or increased job satisfaction reported by their non-immigrant counterparts.

‘We believe non-immigrants may be better able to leverage their training and, as a result, achieve higher salaries and promotions,’ he said.

‘There is an urgent need for employers to develop better policies for integrating and leveraging the talents of immigrant professionals,’ he added.

On average, immigrant professionals, that is those who hold at least an undergraduate, graduate, or professional degree, earn less than non-immigrants. They also tend to have lower promotion rates and shorter tenure with their current employer. In addition, they are less satisfied with their jobs and compensation.

A major barrier for immigrants, Fang noted, is lack of cultural fluency including language limitations and unfamiliarity with local training methods.

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N.S. wants to double number of immigrants by 2020

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Nova Scotia announced a new immigration strategy that aims to double the number of immigrants entering the province each year by 2020.

At the Canadian Immigration Museum at Pier 21 in Halifax on Friday, Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter released the province's new strategy, which sets a target of 7,200 new immigrants by 2020, double what the province had previously aimed for.

The immigration strategy will be bolstered by an additional $790,000 for immigration efforts and targets a 70% retention rate.

"Welcome Home to Nova Scotia is the province's most ambitious and focused immigration plan ever, and one of the most comprehensive strategies in the country," Dexter said in a release.

"By focusing on attracting immigrants with the right skills and experience, this new strategy will make our immigration programs more responsive to employers' needs," Immigration Minister Marilyn More said.

In 2007, the governments of Canada and Nova Scotia signed a new immigration agreement to give the province the ability to nominate more skilled immigrants for quicker processing by the feds in an attempt to help counter declining population trends in communities across the province.

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Birth rate up for sixth year in a row: StatsCan 2

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It's not a baby boom. It's not even enough to replace our own numbers. But more so than other parts of the developed world, Canadian women are becoming moms.

The number of births in Canada rose in 2008 for the sixth consecutive year, according to data released Wednesday.

In 2008, there were 377,886 live births in Canada. That number reflects a rise in every province and territory other than the Northwest Territories.

The rise in births seems to be slowing down, however, with a 2.7% increase in 2008, down from rises of 3.6% and 3.7% in the previous two years, Statistics Canada said.

That reflects a total fertility rate in 2008 of 1.68 children per woman - the highest total fertility rate on record since 1992, when it was 1.69.

While the rate is still "well below" the generational replacement level of 2.1 children per woman - the rate to replace the country's population in the absence of migration - it is still above other developed nations such as Italy at 1.39, and Japan at 1.21.

The numbers in Canada can be attributed to more women reaching their late 20s and early 30s, the ages at which the likelihood women will have a child is highest, said David Foot, an economics professor at the University of Toronto.

Foot, the author of Boom, Bust, Echo, a book about Canadian demographics in the 21st century, says that the recent growth in the number of births can be expected to continue for the next decade or so, as the children of the echo generation reach child-bearing age.

The echo generation are those born to baby boomers, who themselves were born in the post-war period between 1947 and 1966.

"This is the echo of the echo, the grandchildren of the baby boomers," Foot says.

In part, the rise in the national fertility rate can be attributed to a rise in the fertility rate in Quebec, Foot said. More than a third of the total increase in births in 2008 (35%) came from Quebec, StatsCan said. There have been more births there "primarily because of expanded child care," Foot said.

The continued increase in the number of births is likely to have "big implications" for child care in the next four or five years, before going on to affect elementary school enrolments as children grow older, Foot said.

And although the fertility rate is below the generational replacement level, immigration compensates for a fewer births than at other times in the country's history.

"The population of Canada would still be growing without immigration, but at a slower pace," Foot said.

An ideal fertility rate is somewhere between 1.6 and 2.6 births per 1,000 women, Foot said.

A society with too few children can't afford the costs of caring for its aging population, and a society with too many children will suffer from political instability because there won't be enough jobs for them all, Foot said.

Canada, with a fertility rate of 1.6, is on the right track.

"I think our position's very good," Foot said. "Canada's demographic future is considerably better than most of Western Europe and Japan, and Southeast Asia."

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