Mikal Skuterud

I've written something with four of Canada's leading economists. We think it's important.

The federal government has subverted Canada's world-renowned skills based immigration system. It's time to bring it back.

Take some time to read and distribute.
👉 cdhowe.org/publication/...

Shot … chaser

Newspapers? Clearly, housing and unsustainable growth in the NPR population contributed, but my understanding is the source of the fire under Miller’s ass was mostly the latter.

The first-order problem that motivated the u-turn on foreign students was not ON housing. It was the bulging population of migrants who had come to Canada expecting to transition to PR and were unable to. A growing undocumented population is not a problem you want to ignore for long.

I have.

Opinion: Our universities need to ditch DEI and get back to merit and excellence Led by federal granting agencies, schools strayed from their core mission to focus on ideology and identity. It has been a disaster. Read on

There's a difference between ensuring implicit biases don't create blind spots that keep us from selecting the best candidate versus explicitly restricting the set of candidates eligible for a position. Take some time to reflect on this piece from my colleague. financialpost.com/opinion/opin...

A clip from last night's inaugural episode of @tvotoday.bsky.social on TVO. Full episode here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0tF....

Should Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program be reformed, scrapped, or kept as is? @jeyantvo.bsky.social asks @mikalskuterud.bsky.social (@uwaterloo.ca) and Elizabeth Long (LM Law Group) tonight at 8pm on The Rundown. www.tvo.org/the-rundown

Newfoundlander on Signal Hill. Perfect!

Please take some time to read the recommendations of the @CDHoweInstitute's Immigration Targets Council. The challenges are much bigger than the raw numbers. Canada's immigration policy needs a fundamental course correction.
cdhowe.org/publication/...

It's free and fun. Join us! 👇

YouTube video by Mikal Skuterud CBC Power & Politics, September 8, 2025

My thoughts on the CPC’s call to shut down the TFW Program.
youtu.be/_gBjxpkjUbk?...

The summer funk isn’t over yet for young, jobless Canadians With the youth unemployment rate at a rare high, Gen Z is scrambling for entry-level work – and there’s no hope of a quick fix, economists say

Well done, Fabian! Tried to make the same point here. www.theglobeandmail.com/business/art...

Pogues in 1994 at RPM in Toronto with Spider Stacy up front. Would much rather have seen Strummer in Brixton!!! Will tell you offline how that night ended with me being escorted by security out the RPM back door.

Here it is. Nice! Same real spending in 2023-2024 as 2001-2002.

I wonder how much can be explained by aging populations. A bigger share of budget going to healthcare and smaller share to education. What’s happened to real transfers per domestic postsecondary student?

Special week visiting the kids at St. James Orthopaedic and Surgical Hospital in Jinja, Uganda. Consider giving. A small amount can make a huge difference in a kid’s life.
👉 one4anotherintl.ca

An update.

Winter population growth in Canada is always slow but this year it was especially slow. Only 0.2% annualized. Lowest on record and perhaps in Canada's history.

Nice! Lots of interesting and important dynamics packed into two charts, for sure. :)

Excellent stuff! Only quibble is I wonder if the student-TFW tradeoff matters. Marginal increase in foreign students in recent years has been close substitute for low-wage TFWs. Migrants seeking Canadian jobs learned study permits are best option.

Anyone else having difficulty accessing the Open Government Data Portal the past couple of days?
👉https://open.canada.ca

Registration for the CLEF conference (April 25 & 26, Toronto, in partnership with @stone-centre-ubc.bsky.social) open until April 15.

Join us for a keynote lecture by @imarinescu.bsky.social
and papers on wide variety of labour topics: stonecentre.economics.ubc.ca/clef2025/

Waterloo professor @mikalskuterud.bsky.social is a leading expert in the economics of Canadian immigration. His latest research unveils the economic impact of international students, showing they outperform Canadian-born graduates and are more likely to stay & thrive in Canada.

🔗 bit.ly/4iXXpTE

*NEW* The most reliable data we have indicate that growth in the average real earnings of Canadian workers has clearly picked up pace in the past year.

Attention: university faculty. If you're advising international students seeking Canadian employment and permanent residency status, tell them to put all their energy into finding a full-time job as a line cook at Denny's. Seriously.

And paying big tuition fee premiums. Question is what happens to these “extra people” in coming quarters. To what extend do they leave denominator or remain working in low-wage jobs. This will influence if we get back to GDPpc trend which is what this “maximalist” will be following. :)

*NEW* Real GDP per capita growth showed its first year-over-year increase in 7 quarters between the 4th quarter of 2023 and 2024. +0.36% annual growth reflecting the combination of an uptick in real GDP growth and downtick in population growth.

*NEW* Canada's non-permanent resident (NPR) share of the population fell from 7.35% to 7.27% between October 1, 2024 and January 1, 2025. First decline in post-pandemic era, but need NPR population to drop by 31.5% in next 2 years for government to hit its 5% target.

Some projects, rather than using up time, feed your energy; working w/ @cortesecon.bsky.social & @stone-centre-ubc.bsky.social & all at @cleforum.bsky.social to organize the 1st annual CLEF conference is giving me that buzz.

Join us April 25/26! register here stonecentre.economics.ubc.ca/clef2025/