Demographics a challenge for city economy
As the baby boomer generation retires, Regina will have a unique set of challenges to face, according to a report published Tuesday by Economic Development Regina.
“In Regina the diversity of our population is our strength. But with that we have a need to recognize our aging and very youthful population is rather unique, and there are some opportunities and challenges that come with that,” said David Froh, vice-president of Economic Development Regina.
The information published as part of the Impact Regina August 2017 report is based on Statistics Canada data released May 4.
Baby boomers, born from 1947 to 1966, represent 23.7 per cent of the Regina population.
Generation X, born from 1967 to 1979, represents 19.8 per cent, and Generation Y, born from 1980 to 1995, represents 22.9 per cent.
“We have a dropping of the age demographics between 37 and 49, which is typically your mid-to-senior-management cohort, and what that means is we need to do a better job of labour market attachment for our Indigenous and new Canadian communities,” Froh said.
According to data, the median age for an Indigenous person in Regina is 20 years old.
“(Indigenous people are a) surging population, but there is a need for business leaders to be innovative and creative in terms of how they engage those young people in their workforces,” he said.
The data as well show how important it is for mentorship to be used to pass along knowledge from the boomers to the next generation.
“Now more than ever it’s important that we’re leveraging the expertise of soon-to-be-retired and retired business leaders. But that we align that expertise and mentorship with labour-market attachment initiatives for our Indigenous communities and engagement for our international migrants,” Froh said.
The aging demographics don’t just affect the workforce, it affects businesses as well. Boomers may look into taking more holidays or changing their housing situations.
Mike Duggleby, a broker with Royal LePage Regina Realty, said that 10 or 15 years ago there was worry throughout the industry that baby boomers retiring would have a large effect, as they would want to downsize and sell their houses, but that isn’t what happened.
“The economic reality of it is, OK you’ve got a house that was built in the ’80s, you’ve raised your kids in it, it may or may not be dated. But now if you want to go buy a newer bungalow or a newer bungalow condo, you might actually be digging into your pocket and bringing more money out to buy that downsized property,” Duggleby said.
Boomers may be retiring and moving away if their families don’t live in the area, but if not it is more than likely they’ll stay in their house as long as possible. As well, some baby boomers may have downsized to condos to stay near family and bought vacation homes in other places.