Business Independent Study Unit: The Evolving Workforce
BOH4M – Mr. Anderson
June 5th 2013
Table of Contents
Business Independent Study Unit: The Evolving Workforce………………………….….1
What has happened to Canada’s demographics over the past 50 years?
The Issue of Age Discrimination
Current myths regarding the older work force employees
Labour shortage in Canada
What has happened to Canada’s demographics over the past 50 years? Over the past fifty years, Canada’s demographics have been fluctuating significantly in terms of age and sex structure. During the mid-twentieth century, the population distribution pyramid was owned by the younger people and youth while the aged were not as highly populated. Now, the pyramid does not even resemble a pyramid; an increase in life expectancy, and a drop in fertility rates may account for such a drastic and effective transformation, and this sudden drop on the charts represents the large cohorts of the baby boomers, who are now beginning to play, perhaps even a slightly harmful, role in the economic workforce. In terms of statistics, these changes represent well the aging that has taken place in Canada over the past fifty years. Between 1956 and 2006, the median age of the Canadian population went from 27.2 to 38.8 years, an increase of more than 10 years over a span of fifty years. By 2056, the median age is expected to reach 46.9 years, or 20 years more than it was in 1956. In terms of demographics in the work force, during the third quarter of the twentieth century, there were almost 8 adults between 15 and 64 years of age in Canada for each person aged 65 years or over. However, the demographic dependency ratio for seniors in 2006 was just over 5 persons aged 15 to 64 years for each person aged 65 years and over. This ratio gives an approximation of how many elderly persons there are in relation to the potential pool of workers. During the last twenty-five years, the ratio has...
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