Eliminating New Brunswick’s Demographic Deficit

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Table of Contents

Abstract
Introduction
An Action Plan
Immigration and settlement
Repatriation
Outmigration
Bilingual Immigration
Diverse, welcoming communities
Conclusion
References

Abstract

It is now known that New Brunswick is facing a decline in the number of youth living and working within its borders. In addition, the movement of youth to other provinces has increased while New Brunswick continues to attract and retain fewer young people. This trend has affected its growth and potential future developments. Hence, the government and other stakeholders must restore population growth and offset demographic deficit.

The proposed action plan focuses on attracting and retaining youth to the Province through various strategies such as economic growth and labor force skills development approaches; encouraging immigration and settlement; promoting diversity and welcoming communities, focusing Francophone immigrants; attracting and retaining youth; and outmigration.

The action plan requires collaboration, evaluation and updates to ensure its success.

Introduction

New Brunswick’s population has experienced exceptional changes in demographic characteristics. Although the population has grown, as indicated by the last census, New Brunswick’s demographic antecedents show a slower growth rate relative to the national average. In the year 2011, there were nearly 755,500 residents in New Brunswick. Almost half of these residents were aged over 45 years (Statistics Canada, 2013) and this implies a sharp decline in working populations in the next decades (Lerman & Schmidt, 1999). A study by Constantine Passaris expressed that demographic deficit in the Province has developed for some time because demographic shifts do not occur suddenly (Passaris, 2012).

Within the next 25 years, it is projected that the population of persons aged 65 years and over will increase considerably in New Brunswick. In addition, the birth rate will remain low alongside recognizable youth outmigration. Hence, it is imperative to develop an action plan to combat this imminent demographic deficit by facilitating population growth in New Brunswick.

This action plan to improve the current population deficit in the Province is multifaceted and includes several practical solutions that the government of New Brunswick could apply. Specifically, it promotes current strategies to enhance population and ensures that more immigrants arrive to New Brunswick to sustain population growth. The action plan addresses targeted population growth through immigration and settlement; promoting diversity and creating welcoming communities; repatriation and attraction; outmigration; and francophone immigration.

An Action Plan

Generally, there are economic strategies and labor force and skills development approaches to demographic deficit in New Brunswick. These initiatives create enabling environments for the Province to attract residents. In addition, they shall help the government to plan better for its residents (Chamie, 2012).

Therefore, the Province must create a strategic plan to promote economic growth and labor force skills development. This plan will attract and retain qualified human resources. In addition, New Brunswick should support emerging entrepreneurs and investments to grow both traditional and new sectors of the economy.

Residents of New Brunswick require skills to run their industries. The Province, therefore, must ensure that young people acquire these skills and qualifications required to participate in the labor market and run the industries within its jurisdictions. This would facilitate growth and expansion.

Residents of New Brunswick will have the right skills for the right jobs for personal growth within the Province. Overall, this is an opportunity for the Province to attract and retain young skilled professionals from the wider North America region. It would guarantee personal and professional growth of immigrants.

Immigration and settlement

Provincial and Federal governments control immigration affairs in Canada. This is necessary for demographic planning purposes. Historically, New Brunswick has not been active in taking up new immigrants. Consequently, the Province has realized that it can develop the best immigration policy to attract skilled workers.

The Government of Canada has noted the changing landscape of immigration characterized by intense competition for talented human resources and flexible immigration policies, which could affect its future demographic characteristics. It is therefore imperative for the government to tout the country as a destination of choice for skilled immigrants.

It is expected that Canada will adjust its immigration policies and practices to favor immigration. These changes are anticipated to improve Canada immigration practices and the Province of New Brunswick will adjust its efforts to benefit from the improved policy environment.

Repatriation

Generally, the Province loses many of its residents to other provinces relative to those it attracts. New Brunswick has limited abilities to attract outsiders and control loss of its residents to other provinces. Hence, there is a need for the Province to review its efforts and attract new residents.

Immigrants are critical resources for the Province. New Brunswick should target highly educated, skilled and immigrants who may not experience language difficulties to engage in labor market immediately. The Province needs to focus on creating links with its expatriates in other provinces and the wider North America region. It would ensure that newcomers offer the necessary labor resources required to compete effectively with other provinces.

At the same time, New Brunswick must engage in continuous education to ensure that young people get the required skills for employment and challenges unique to the Province. To ensure effective attraction of outsiders and to retain its own residents, New Brunswick must enhance its ability to connect employers and immigrants and invest in projects that enhance transition. The Province must develop effective performance indicators for capturing data and reporting on its initiatives to attract immigrants and retain its young people. Such indicators should guide decision-making processes and efforts to engage expatriates.

Outmigration

There are massive brain drains from the Province. The trend is common among young people aged between 15 and 35 years old, who seek for jobs and settle outside the Province.

New Brunswick must address this issue. It would be difficult for the Province to endure such losses and support the aging population. This could be a public policy crisis in the near future.

New Brunswick must offer alternative and viable career opportunities and progress to youth to retain them. This requires programs that encourage investments in youth. Young people are required to promote economic growth, and the business community and the government must collaborate for such programs. Such collaboration efforts must demonstrate that the Province is the best place to work, grow and prosper by creating confidence in the economy and citizens.

New Brunswick must define new workforce programs with employers. For instance, there could be wage subsidies for employers who create jobs and hire youth. It is possible that the Province can reimburse a certain percentage of labor costs to employers.

The youth job and labor market connections could yield positive responses if the government aggressively works with the private sector. However, the government must find viable reasons to influence personal decisions and ensure that young people make the Province a place of residence.

Bilingual Immigration

New Brunswick is unique in Canada because it is constitutionally bilingual. This is an opportunity for the Province to develop unique proposal for Francophone immigrants.

New Brunswick must strive to attract adequate French speaking immigrants to balance its demographic deficit. This process requires thorough consultation on areas of opportunities for bilingual residents. Moreover, it must promote, create awareness and encourage settlement opportunities for potential immigrants.

New Brunswick must collaborate with other stakeholders to promote Francophone immigration efforts and establish Francophone villages within its jurisdictions.

The Province has recognized that the Francophone immigration market is characterized by competition from other provinces such as Quebec. Although the Government of Canada aims to enhance uptake of Francophone speaking immigrants, all Provinces must competition for these successful immigrants.

Majorities of Francophone immigrants are usually under the age of 30 years. Consequently, the Province has identified it as a rich market for recruitment of immigrants to offset the demographic deficit. The Province must rely on its unique, strong bilingual advantages and collaborate with all stakeholders to develop a model for potential immigrants.

Diverse, welcoming communities

New Brunswick must develop programs to welcome immigrants in its communities. The Province must promote diversity and celebrate multicultural heritage to attract foreigners.

Conclusion

New Brunswick faces demographic deficit, which could affect its prosperity negatively. Consequently, it is necessary for the Province to restore its population growth and offset the negative demographic shift. The action aims to attract youth to the Province because of their potential to grow, settle and run the economy.

The action plan focuses on economic growth and labor force skills development approaches; encouraging immigration and settlement; promoting diversity and welcoming communities, focusing Francophone immigrants; attracting and retaining youth; and outmigration.

It is believed that continued focus on these elements of the action plan would ensure that New Brunswick manages its demographic deficit and related challenges. However, this action plan requires constant collaboration with all stakeholders, reviews and updates to ensure its success.

References

Chamie, J. (2012). For Better Planning, Watch Global Demographic Trends. YaleGlobal. Web.

Lerman, R., & Schmidt, S. (1999). An Overview of Economic, Social, and Demographic Trends Affecting the US Labor Market. Web.

Passaris, C. E. (2012). New Brunswick’s Perfect Demographic Storm. Journal of of New Brunswick Studies. Web.

Statistics Canada. (2013). New Brunswick Population Growth Strategy 2013 – 2018. New Brunswick: Department of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour.

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