HR Professional - February/March 2009 - (Page 64) I N T ERV I EW of countries in the world with fertility rates above 2.6 that have real problems. Certainly this is true of Iraq and Afghanistan where fertility rates are around five to seven. Getting that fertility rate down is absolutely crucial to sustaining economic growth. Once a country has fewer than 1.6 children per family it will never be able to afford its aging p population because it won’t have enough young people to provide p pensions and health care. That’s where most of the countries in Europe are heading. The combined fertility rate of western Europe is 1.4 children per family. Canada is 8:40:15 AM approaching that point now. HRP: How does Canada offset this? DF: Canada has the biggest immigration program in the world on a per capita basis. That’s why we haven’t suffered and will not suffer in the same way as Europe. But immigration isn’t as simple a solution as it might appear. We’ve seen over the last decade that our immigrants, in general, have not been successful in the workplace. There are lots of reasons for this, but one is the language barrier. In the late1990s, half of our immigrants spoke neither English nor French, so they have had a lot of difficulty getting jobs. If they can’t get jobs, 9:19:22 AM they are not offsetting labour market shortages. Cranking up the level of immigration without paying attention to how immigrants can be successful in the workplace is crazy. By the way, Canada won’t need to increase immigration levels to foster labour force growth until after 2016—when the end of the echo reaches age 20. 376852_Informed.indd 1 4/9/08 TM Agree® Workplace Experts in: • Mediation • Fact-Finding • Relationship Partnering • Conflict Coaching • Customized Training in • Effective Communication • Negotiation Skills • Conflict Management Tools Heather Swartz Rick Russell Gary Furlong Agree® the right next step since 1993 Explore our full range of conflict management solutions at: www.agreeinc.com • 1-800-524-6967 368062_Agree.indd 1 2/21/08 Looking for a professional speaker or trainer for your next meeting? We can help! Harness the power of my fellow CAPS speakers today! www.AlbertaSpeakers.com www.TorontoSpeakers.com www.VancouverSpeakers.com Visit: www.ideaman.net Bob ‘Idea Man’ Hooey For more information on David K. Foot or the Boom, Bust & Echo books, visit www.footwork.com/index.asp. HR P ROF ES SI O N AL 64 F e b r u a r y / M a1r c h 2 0 0 9 407067_Ideas.indd 11/4/08 1:52:49 PM http://www.informedhiring.com http://www.agreeinc.com http://www.ideaman.net http://www.footwork.com/index.asp
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