expected to grow slightly, the housing market has remained strong, and the fiscal budget status ranks high among other industrialized countries. Overall negatives include: consumer spending has slowed significantly, growth rates are anticipated to fall as the baby boomer group begins entering retirement age, government spending has decreased, and labour productivity is neutral with minimal growth in the past decade.
Future economic growth is expected to increase in Western Canada with growth slowing in Eastern Canada. Interest rates are expected to remain low and monetary policy is expected to continue stimulating the Canadian economy. Inflation was 2.9% in 2011 and was expected to decrease to 1.8% in 2012. Despite decreased consumer spending in recent years, the expectation is job growth will fuel consumer spending increases. Further, job growth has recovered to pre-2008 levels; however, skill shortages exist in a number of industries including IT, skilled trades, and healthcare, with the latter two direct consequences of the aging boomer group which continues to cause major changes in Canada’s economic landscape.
Savings account for 6.1% of disposable income with no expectation of change in the near future. Annual disposable income grew in 2011 by a slight margin of 0.3% to nearly $30,000 for the average Canadian with higher numbers seen in more urban population centres such as Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal. (Euromonitor, 2012)
Socio-cultural
Canada’s population (34.8M in 2012) is growing but at a slowing pace with the median age (40.1 in 2012) rising (again, boomers). The country’s population growth is attributed to increased numbers of immigrants landing on Canadian shores, highest amongst large global economies, with 20% of the country’s total population being foreign-born and two-thirds of that existing in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. (Euromonitor, 2012)
Relevant socio-cultural information includes the following: Canadians weathered the recent global economic downturn well as it outperformed all other G7 countries, rebounding quickly between 2009-10; higher education is performing well with 9 of the top 200 universities; Canadians work slightly less than the OECD average at 1702 hours per year; recent trends see more Canadians working from home largely due to work/life balance preferences; one-third of all work arrangements for older workers are considered non-standard, meaning part-time, self-employment, and temporary work; self-employment is increasing; lifestyle choices, environmental factors, and public healthcare are considered most important to Canadians well-being; online penetration rates are extremely high in Canada; and Canadians are still avid television viewers but home Internet usage continues to increase. (Euromonitor, 2012)
Technological
A lack of competition exists in the Canadian telecom market leaving Canada with a low mobile phone penetration rate compared to developed nations (75.3% of households having a subscription); however, Internet usage, Internet connectivity, and television access is high in comparison to the standard amongst developed