色狐入口
Immigrants have a key role to play in helping grow the Canadian economy and off-setting the country鈥檚 growing shortage of skilled labour, says Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz.聽
In a March 13 speech at Queen鈥檚 University in Kingston, Ontario, the head of Canada鈥檚 central bank said immigration is critical to keeping inflation low and balancing the trend of Canada鈥檚 aging workforce.聽
鈥淚mmigration can help provide an important off-set,鈥� Poloz said, as can聽鈥渦ntapped sources of labour within our existing population.鈥�
With Canada鈥檚 economy hitting its 鈥渟weet spot鈥� of rising demand and companies operating at near capacity, Poloz said this growth is translating into new jobs 鈥� and escalating job vacancies.
鈥淣one of this highly desirable economic growth can happen unless there are people available to fill the newly created jobs,鈥� he said. 鈥淎 healthy, well-functioning labour market is critical.鈥�
He pointed to data from Statistics Canada that show job vacancies rising to a record 470,000 in the fall of 2017.
鈥淲e hear from business leaders that many of these vacancies are going unfilled because they cannot find workers with the right skills,鈥� he said.
To help solve this shortage, Poloz said Canada needs to accelerate the integration of new immigrants into the workforce and improve the labour participation rate of Canada鈥檚 youth, women and Indigenous peoples.
鈥淧ut it all together, and it is not much of a stretch to imagine that Canada鈥檚 labour force could expand by another half a million workers,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his could increase Canada鈥檚 potential output by as much as 1.5 per cent, or about $30 billion per year.鈥�
Digital economy creating new jobs
Rapid advancements in digital technology are also producing new demands for workers with the requisite skills, he observed
鈥淣ew applications are creating jobs that were unimaginable just years ago,鈥� he said. 鈥淭en years ago, there were no smartphone app developers, or cloud computing engineers or social media managers.鈥�
Ultimately, Canada stands to gain from these innovations and the income-generating effect of these new jobs, he said.
鈥淭hese are exciting times. New opportunities, new technologies and new industries are all waiting right around the corner.鈥�
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