Canadians are leaving the country at record levels. Can anyone solve this?

14 hours ago

Canada is experiencing a brain drain, with a significant increase in emigration of highly educated and high-earning individuals, especially to the United States.
Emigration from Canada rose 34% in Q3 2025 compared to six years ago, with net emigration reaching a 50-year high of 65,372 in 2024-25.
Approximately 70% of Canadian emigrants hold at least a university degree, and 67% are young professionals aged 20-44, predominantly in natural/applied sciences or finance.
Roughly 40% of Canada's top 1% earners have moved to the U.S., and top earners account for three-quarters of the Canada-U.S. GDP per adult gap.
The U.S. is the top destination, with 61.4% of Canadian-born expats living there, attracted by larger markets, deeper capital, and higher wages.
The startup exodus is severe: the U.S. now produces 45 times more high-potential startups than Canada, and nearly half of Canadian founders raising over $1 million are based in the U.S.
Three key drivers of Canada's brain drain are remote work normalization, high marginal tax rates, and declining institutional performance.
The loss of skilled workers threatens Canada's productivity and innovation, while reducing future tax revenues and straining public services, creating a fiscal squeeze.
The article warns that without policy adjustments to address these drivers, Canada will continue losing its human capital and economic potential.

The author bought a home after 20 years of disciplined saving, but had to relocate from Chicago to an affordable rural town, questioning why they cannot afford a city home.
Homeownership is a key wealth-building tool; homeowners have vastly higher net worth than renters, yet rising prices and investor purchases make it increasingly inaccessible.
Productivity has grown significantly since 1979, but wage growth has lagged, with gains going to executives, shareholders, and corporate profits instead of typical workers.

Graduation season in China is marked by increasing trepidation about the future as record numbers of graduates face a saturated job market.
This year saw 12.7 million college graduates, with intense competition and a lack of vacancies, especially for jobs offering weekends off and proper social insurance.
Youth unemployment in China stands at 15.6% (16-24 age group), driven by a mismatch between graduates' skills and market demands, exacerbated by AI automation.

Birth rates are declining globally, faster than UN predictions, with South Korea's 2023 births at 230,000 versus a forecast of 350,000.
Key drivers include changing social norms via social media, the shift to service-based economies, the educational arms race, and rising housing costs.
Fertility has fallen below replacement level (2.1 children per woman) in most of North America, South America, Europe, and southern/eastern Asia.

The unemployment rate for recent college graduates has risen to 5.8%, while even elite MBA graduates struggle to find work.
The labor market for young workers has not fully recovered from the Great Recession and pandemic, with white-collar industries like tech, consulting, and finance hit hard.
The value of a college degree may be declining, as the earnings gap with high-school graduates stopped widening after 2010 and fewer job postings require a degree.

The author questions whether his daughter will find a job after graduating from a future AI-driven university, and whether homeownership will remain a benchmark of adulthood.
Media coverage highlights a rise in young adults living with parents, with 49% of under-30s living at home in 2025 according to the SHED report, up 12 points since 2019.
Census data shows a long-term upward trend over 40 years, but the increase is less dramatic when accounting for students in dormitories and demographic shifts.

The author bought a home after 20 years of disciplined saving, but had to relocate from Chicago to an affordable rural town, questioning why they cannot afford a city home.
Homeownership is a key wealth-building tool; homeowners have vastly higher net worth than renters, yet rising prices and investor purchases make it increasingly inaccessible.
Productivity has grown significantly since 1979, but wage growth has lagged, with gains going to executives, shareholders, and corporate profits instead of typical workers.

Graduation season in China is marked by increasing trepidation about the future as record numbers of graduates face a saturated job market.
This year saw 12.7 million college graduates, with intense competition and a lack of vacancies, especially for jobs offering weekends off and proper social insurance.
Youth unemployment in China stands at 15.6% (16-24 age group), driven by a mismatch between graduates' skills and market demands, exacerbated by AI automation.

Birth rates are declining globally, faster than UN predictions, with South Korea's 2023 births at 230,000 versus a forecast of 350,000.
Key drivers include changing social norms via social media, the shift to service-based economies, the educational arms race, and rising housing costs.
Fertility has fallen below replacement level (2.1 children per woman) in most of North America, South America, Europe, and southern/eastern Asia.

The unemployment rate for recent college graduates has risen to 5.8%, while even elite MBA graduates struggle to find work.
The labor market for young workers has not fully recovered from the Great Recession and pandemic, with white-collar industries like tech, consulting, and finance hit hard.
The value of a college degree may be declining, as the earnings gap with high-school graduates stopped widening after 2010 and fewer job postings require a degree.

The author questions whether his daughter will find a job after graduating from a future AI-driven university, and whether homeownership will remain a benchmark of adulthood.
Media coverage highlights a rise in young adults living with parents, with 49% of under-30s living at home in 2025 according to the SHED report, up 12 points since 2019.
Census data shows a long-term upward trend over 40 years, but the increase is less dramatic when accounting for students in dormitories and demographic shifts.

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