For long-term stability

A recent economic report by the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) indicates that the government's decision to maintain immigration levels for the next three years is a sound one.

However, in the long term, Canada still needs more people to stabilize the country's age structure and maintain a stable economy. The report indicates that the current annual immigration rate in Canada is around 1.3% of the population, but this is not enough to stabilize the age structure as it needs to reach 2.1%. The Canadian government has also announced its immigration policy for the next three years, which will accept approximately 485,000 new immigrants in 2024 and 500,000 each year in 2025 and 2026. The RBC report assesses this as a temporary pause in the pattern of increasing immigration numbers with each policy update.

Between 2020 and 2023, immigration to Canada increased by approximately 36%. Compared to Canada's population growth rate over the past 30 years, this represents only about 0.8%. Therefore, the country's immigration system aims to add 13 new permanent residents for every 1,000 people in each subsequent year. Beyond immigration, Canada is also witnessing an unprecedented increase in international students and temporary residents over the past two years. Statistics show that the number of temporary residents and international students increased 1.5 times faster than the number of immigrants between 2022 and 2023. This temporary resident group also contributes significantly to the annual number of new permanent residents.

The report recommends that the Canadian government address two issues simultaneously. First, there should be no restrictions on the temporary resident population, as this could reduce the resources available for those transitioning to permanent residency – individuals who have contributed, are contributing, and will continue to contribute to Canada's economic growth. Second, a diverse immigration and temporary resident selection strategy is needed, not one that is limited solely to highly skilled fields. This would contribute to a more abundant workforce and maximize the benefits of the current high immigration levels.

Source