Canada is battling its own, older, greyer version of the Great Resignation, The Great Retirement, more than a year since it took root in the United States.The labour force in Canada increased in August but decreased in the two preceding months and is still lower than it was before the summer due to tens of thousands of individuals who simply quit working. Statistics Canada hinted a solid portion of this can be linked to a majority of Canadians retiring more than ever.Not only are people in their 65s and older leaving their offices and putting away their tool belts. Statscan data claimed that a record group of Canadians aged 55 to 64 are now reported to have retired within the past 12 months.
According to analysts, this is causing a huge flight of Canada’s most effectively trained workers, which is causing firms to scramble, driving up wages substantially, and endangering the nation’s already low productivity.Desjardins Group Chief Economist Jimmy Jean claimed that they had known for a very long time that this wave was on its way and that they would experience this moment. And in the upcoming years, it will only get worse.She continues, saying that the risk is that people may retire without enough younger employees to replace them, which is already happening in several industries. Consequently, knowledge and human capital are being lost.Retirements decreased as more Canadians choose to work longer during the pandemic. Many people are attempting to make up for a missed time by travelling and spending more time with relatives now that restrictions have been eased.As a result of their departures, the labour force is diminishing, which may hurt economic development at a moment when the central bank is actively raising interest rates to combat rising inflation and stoking concerns that the economy could enter a recession.Statscan reported that Canada has the biggest working-age population as a percentage of the total population in the G7, yet at the same time, its labour force has never been older. Canada has increased immigration to support economic growth. In Canada, one in five workers is 55 or older.Furthermore, 307,000 Canadians quit their jobs at some time in the previous year to retire. This number was up 12.5% from August 2019—before the pandemic—and up 31.8% from the previous year.The fact that 9.7% more Canadians aged 65 and older during the pandemic, or more than 620,000, compounded the issue. Despite three months in a row of job losses, the number of job openings and postings is still significantly higher than it was before the outbreak.In highly specialised professions like nursing and trades, the retirement issue is particularly severe. Despite a high number of nurses reporting working after hours, Canada has lost 34,400 healthcare jobs since May.Cathryn Hoy, the chair of the Ontario Nurses’ Association, claimed that these were not positions being eliminated by employees but are rather the result of retirees.She cited the pandemic, poor working conditions, and a salary dispute with Canada’s greatest province as reasons why there are so many people who have abruptly retired right now.
Due to both the frenzied demand for more commodities caused by the epidemic and the ageing of the population, the transportation sector is likewise experiencing a severe personnel shortage.Tony Reeder, the founder of Trans-Canada College, said that a career academy that trains transport truck drivers, an increasing number of truckers are getting older and considering retiring or switching to a different lifestyle.Meanwhile, trucking businesses are in high demand, Reeder said. Many of them employ student truckers for on-the-job training programmes before hiring them permanently as soon as they receive their full licences.Without trucks and drivers, items would remain at ports and warehouses rather than travelling to where they could be consumed, he claimed.
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