Proceedings of a Workshop on Demographic Trends and Their Impact on the Canadian Labour Market

John Marston was a federal civil servant in Ottawa.

Webster defines demography as “the statistical science dealing with the distribution, destiny, vital statistics etc. of populations.” This rather esoteric subject is dealt with in this report of the proceedings of a workshop sponsored jointly by Statistics Canada (Demography Division) and Employment and Immigration Canada (Analysis Directorate) of the federal government, held in November 1981; representatives of eight other government departments were also in attendance.

The report consists of seven papers delivered by experts in the field of demography; the subjects range from “Canadian Fertility Trends” to “The Impact of Demographic Change on the Canadian Labour Market.”

In his introductory remarks, P.B. Fay, Acting Assistant Deputy Minister of Strategic Policy Planning, Employment and Immigration Canada, says that there is a very real requirement for this social data in order to formulate soundly based policies. He also points out the value of the workshop in bringing together a group of professionals, who, though they may work in the same field, have differing perspectives; the workshop experience generates a cross-fertilization of ideas. The workshop also demonstrates the manner in which government departments do collaborate on matters of mutual concern.

These proceedings and the excellent summary of the discussions, plus concluding remarks by R.F. Gordon of Employment & Immigration, are of considerable interest to the students and practitioners of this subject and those who would learn some of the highlights of this topic.