With over half a billion dollars in generated economic activity, temporary residents in Northern Ontario are leaving permanent benefits.
Temporary residents, who are individuals with either work or study permits, are explored in detail in the latest partnered paper by Northern Policy Institute and Réseau du Nord.
Samrul Aahad, author of Temporary residents, permanent benefits: How temporary residents fill vacancies, pay taxes, and keep the local economy rolling, finds that the majority of temporary residents are study permit holders and are primarily concentrated in the districts of Greater Sudbury, Thunder Bay, and Algoma.
Moreover, the majority of work permit holders, like those with study permits, moved from India to Northern Ontario.
Furthermore, the author finds that temporary residents are filling occupations in need such as food service supervisors, transport truck drivers, and welders and related machine operators.
“The positive economic impact of just 11,000 temporary residents in Northern Ontario is a huge opportunity for communities,” said Thomas Mercier, Project Coordinator at Réseau du Nord.
“Attracting and retaining individuals such as international students or temporary foreign workers and their families can bring communities one step closer to ensuring long-term growth.”
It is well known that Northern Ontario has an aging workforce. One effect of this is less people are paying income taxes and even less people are available to fill already vacant job positions. While ensuring the domestic population is matched to job opportunities, this is but one strategy.
To address these needs, strategies ought to include the attraction and retention of temporary residents so that services continued to be funded and businesses stay open.
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Want to learn more? Read the report here: https://www.northernpolicy.ca/economicimpact-tr
This report was created as part of the Northern Analyst Collective, an initiative by the Northern Policy Institute.
About the Author: Samrul Aahad graduated with an M.A. in Economics from the University of Saskatchewan where he was the recipient of the prestigious Boving Family Scholarship. During his Masters, he was able to contrast the conventional ways of analysis popular with economists with contemporary techniques such as ones used in machine learning. He has, previously, worked as a business/data analyst for various research organizations and industries locally and internationally.
About Northern Policy Institute: Northern Policy Institute is Northern Ontario’s independent think tank. We perform research, collect and disseminate evidence, and identify policy opportunities to support the growth of sustainable Northern communities. Our operations are located in Thunder Bay and Sudbury. We seek to enhance Northern Ontario’s capacity to take the lead position on socio-economic policy that impacts Northern Ontario, Ontario, and Canada as a whole.
About Réseau du Nord: Reseau du Nord creates links between organizations from all regions of Northern Ontario, such as: Sudbury, Timmins, North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay, to put in place a system to facilitate the reception and integration of newcomers.
