New Brunswickers planning earlier to leave for jobs
Many New Brunswick high school students are already planning to leave the province to find employment opportunities, according to a University of New Brunswick researcher.
Michael Haan, the Canada research chair in population and social policy, joined education professionals and business people for the Greater Moncton Chamber of Commerce’s Future Workforce Summit on Thursday.
He told the summit how students are starting to plan early to move away from New Brunswick to find a job.
"What we're going to see is an increase in outmigration. They're going to start making up their minds about where they want to go and there are other provinces that are happy to have them," he said.
"So we have to choose whether or not we want to compete to keep them here."
Haan said there are policy options that could be examined to retain these young people, such as offering a low interest loan for first-time homebuyers.
Recent migration numbers show an increase in number of New Brunswickers leaving for other parts of the country.
New Brunswick lost 1,335 people to other parts of the country, primarily Alberta, between January and July 2012. That represents the largest exodus since late 2006 and nearly triple the rate experienced in 2011, according to Statistics Canada data.
That outmigration has brought population growth in New Brunswick to a virtual standstill this year with the province adding just 115 people as of July, a growth rate far below the national average.
The employers at the conference were encouraged to reach out to young people, while they are still studying, and encourage them to join the workforce.
Helene Savoie, who works for the co-operative education office at the University of Moncton, said employers should consider ways to become involved with students while they're still in school.
"What we're asking is for you to recruit the students for three work terms or four during their four years or five years bachelor degree, pay them and invest in them long term. And that's what companies in Moncton, Fredericton, Saint John are just starting to understand,” she said.
Savoie said the province has to be competitive--to stem the flow of young people heading out west.
The discussion about keeping young people in the province has to start before university or even high school, according to UNB’s Haan.
He told the summit his research has demonstrated young people are making plans in high school to leave, so the discussion has to start even earlier about the importance of chasing job opportunities in New Brunswick.
"Certainly already it’s occurred in high school, so the next thing to so would be to go to elementary school and ask students how many want to stick around because I think that would be interesting and important,” Haan said.
"If already, at that point, the decision is made then we have to keep working our way down to see when we can talk to individuals about how the decision-making process, how it was, how it worked."
