Canada Announces Goal to Double Home Building Despite Major Labor Shortage

Canada recently announced an ambitious plan to double its pace of home building over the next decade, but a shortage of skilled labor could hinder the progress of builders nationwide, Reuters reports. Much like the U.S. housing market, Canada has grappled with constrained supply amid heightened demand throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, driving up the average selling price of a Canadian home by more than 50% in the last two years.

Despite its plans to double down on new construction, Canada’s building industry is already creating new housing supply at a record pace and logging a historically high number of new hires each month.

Canada has added more than 100,000 construction jobs in the last four months alone, a historic run of increases for the sector. Overall jobless rate fell to a record 5.3% in March.

"Just the sheer volume of work that exists within the industry (creates) a lot of pressure on the various trades," said Jim Ritchie, chief operating officer of Tridel, which develops condominiums in the Toronto area.

"So there's a lot of demand for that workforce."

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