FIRST READING: High immigration is worsening Canada's economic problems, says report

National Post

4 days ago

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By overseeing one of the most dramatic immigration surges of modern times, Canada has cratered housing affordability, kneecapped productivity and concealed the true state of its economic growth, according to a new profile by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
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The OECD is a club of 38 countries that effectively comprise the developed world. Every two years, each member state receives a comprehensive 'economic survey' prepared by OECD economists.
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Canada's most recent survey — published just last week — focuses in particular on the issues of housing affordability and worker productivity, two areas in which Canada now ranks among the worst in the developed world.
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And in both instances, the OECD fingers record-high immigration as having made the problems worse.
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'Rapid population growth has exacerbated previous housing affordability challenges,' reads the report, adding the blunt recommendation that 'housing supply should keep pace with immigration targets.'
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Similarly, the OECD warns that Canada has been packing millions of new workers into its labour force without any comparable increase in 'productivity-enhancing investment.' With the economy thus remaining relatively stagnant, Canada's workers are receiving an increasingly small share of the overall economic pie.
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On top of this, the report notes that while Canada used to prioritize high-skilled immigrants such as doctors and engineers, its migration flows are now mostly comprised of low-skilled workers.
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'The skill composition of recent immigration, which included many students and temporary workers, has also likely reduced average labour productivity,' it reads.
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The OECD's own stats have long shown that Canada is an outlier in the realm of housing affordability. The OECD's most recent tally of the 'price to income' ratio of Canadian housing shows that it is the highest of all their member states save for Portugal.
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Over the last 10 years, Canada has also been one of the worst performers in OECD rankings of GDP growth per capita.