{"id":163878,"date":"2018-05-16T06:45:05","date_gmt":"2018-05-16T10:45:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=163878"},"modified":"2018-05-16T06:45:05","modified_gmt":"2018-05-16T10:45:05","slug":"new-report-calls-for-raising-canadas-immigration-rate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/05\/16\/new-report-calls-for-raising-canadas-immigration-rate\/","title":{"rendered":"New report calls for raising Canada\u2019s immigration rate"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Increasing<\/a>
Increasing Canada\u2019s immigration rate to one per cent of its total population beginning in 2030 would help offset the challenges caused by an aging population and contribute to economic growth, a new report by the Conference Board of Canada argues.(Photo: Environment Canada\/Twitter)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Raising admissions to 415,000 by 2030 would off-set aging population and spur economy, Conference Board of Canada says<\/p>\n

Increasing Canada\u2019s immigration rate to one per cent of its total population beginning in 2030 would help offset the challenges caused by an aging population and contribute to economic growth, a new report by the Conference Board of Canada argues.<\/p>\n

The increase would represent 415,000 new admissions to Canada, whose population would be pushing 42 million people in 2030.<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on current demographic trends, increasing the immigration rate to one per cent by the early 2030s will allow Canada to replicate its population growth rate of recent decades (one per cent) and support modest labour market and economic growth over the long term,\u201d say\u00a0the report\u2019s authors, Kareem El-Assal and Daniel Fields of the Conference Board\u2019s National Immigration Centre.<\/p>\n

Last November, Canada\u2019s federal government\u00a0announced a new multi-year immigration levels plan<\/a>\u00a0that will see admissions ramp up to 340,000 across all immigration programs by 2020 \u2014 an immigration rate of 0.9 per cent. The admissions target for 2018 is set at 310,000, or a rate of 0.84 per cent.<\/p>\n

Report looks at no immigration vs 1%<\/h2>\n

The new report echoes calls by the Government of Canada, provincial governments, economists and business leaders across the country for increased immigration to counter labour shortages produced by Canada\u2019s aging population.<\/p>\n

The Conference Board report makes the case for this increase to one per cent by contrasting it with a fiscal snapshot of Canada in the 2030s if all immigration to the country was stopped \u2014 an \u201cimplausible\u201d scenario, the authors acknowledge, but one that puts their modest raise into perspective.<\/p>\n

Without immigration, Canada\u2019s labour force would shrink, slowing the estimated average annual real GDP growth rate to 1.3 per cent by 2040 and more than likely forcing tax rates to increase as the number of taxpayers declined.<\/p>\n

Fewer taxpayers could also affect living standards and threaten the ability of Canada and its provinces to cover the cost of vital public services for aging Canadians, notably health care.<\/p>\n

Immigration already plays a vital economic role in Canada, accounting for almost all labour force growth and nearly three-quarters of its annual population growth, the report notes. The Conference Board of Canada has already projected that immigration will account for 100 per cent of Canada\u2019s annual population growth by 2034, when natural population increase (births minus deaths) is expected to drop below zero.<\/p>\n

The authors estimate\u00a0that an immigration rate of one per cent by 2030 will contribute one-third of Canada\u2019s projected average annual real GDP growth rate of 1.9 per cent that year.<\/p>\n

To find out if you are eligible for any Canadian immigration programs, fill out a free assessment form.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Government action required<\/h2>\n

The report warns, however, that there is a potential downside to such an increase if Canada does not take corresponding steps to improve the labour market outcomes of immigrants.<\/p>\n

To address this issue, it offers three recommendations for Canadian policymakers:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Improve labour market integration so immigrants can better contribute to Canada\u2019s economic and fiscal fortunes.<\/li>\n
  2. Identify ways to grow Canada\u2019s economy so Canadian-born and immigrant workers alike can access good job opportunities and the necessities that contribute to Canada\u2019s high living standards, including social services like education, health care, affordable housing.<\/li>\n
  3. Ensure public support for immigration through strong border management, maintaining the integrity of Canada\u2019s immigration and temporary resident programs, and promoting \u201csafe spaces for open debate on the merits and drawbacks of immigration.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Improving the outcomes of newcomers arriving through\u00a0Family Class sponsorships<\/a>\u00a0by removing labour market barriers is also critical, the authors argue.<\/p>\n

    \u201cLow earnings and the prevalence of chronic low income among the family class are issues of concern that need to be addressed to help boost the living standards of immigrant families, and to help Canada benefit from their human capital in the labour market as it becomes more dependent on immigrant support for its economic growth,\u201d they write.<\/p>\n

    Also required is a fundamental shift in the way the outcomes of family class immigrants are assessed, one that would put the focus on household incomes instead of individual income.<\/p>\n

    Many newcomers who are sponsored through the family class, including parents and grandparents, contribute to the household income and provide child care, which allows a bread winner to work longer hours.<\/p>\n

    \u201cThis is a key consideration as Canada continues to evaluate the distribution of its immigrant composition in the years and decades to come,\u201d the authors write. \u201cWhile Canada has prioritized economic class admissions since the mid-1990s, family class admissions should also be viewed as part of economic development policy.<\/p>\n

    \u201cImmigrant families are faring well in relation to Canadian-born families in important economic metrics such as household income and homeownership. Immigrant families bring other benefits as well, such as boosting immigrant retention rates, important to population growth in Atlantic Canada, and to all other provinces as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

    To find out if you are eligible for any Canadian immigration programs, fill out a free assessment form.<\/a><\/p>\n

    CanadaVisa.com<\/em><\/a>\u00a0is a proud sponsor of the Conference Board\u2019s 4th<\/sup>\u00a0annual Canadian Immigration Summit.<\/p>\n

    Register for the\u00a0Canadian Immigration Summit 2018.<\/a><\/p>\n

    \u00a9 2018 CICNews All Rights Reserved<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Raising admissions to 415,000 by 2030 would off-set aging population and spur economy, Conference Board of Canada says Increasing Canada\u2019s …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":142021,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[50948],"class_list":["post-163878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-immigration","tag-conference-board-of-canada","mauthors-stephen-smith","mauthors-cic-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}