Pandemic exodus of Canadian families from cities could fuel wage inflation
CTV
A pandemic-driven exodus of young families out of Canada's largest cities has depleted a core age group of workers from the already tight labour market, which experts say risks accelerating wage inflation in certain industries.
Leading the rush out of Canada's big cities were children under 10 and millennials, or young families, Reuters analysis of official data shows, many who moved to smaller cities or rural areas in search of more space to live and work.
The drive-until-you-qualify trend has shifted mid-career workers - a key segment of the labour force - out of big cities, making it difficult to find established talent in sectors where in-person work is essential or preferred.
"That's a whole sort of cohort of workers missing," said Mike Moffatt, an economist and senior director of the Smart Prosperity Institute. "You've got the sort of entry level people, but that middle, people in their 30s and 40s, they're moving out."
Intraprovincial migration data from the federal government released last month shows 64,000 people left Greater Toronto for smaller locales within their own province from 2020 to 2021, while Greater Montreal lost 40,000, a sharp acceleration of an existing trend. Vancouver lost 12,000 people.
