The construction sector is short a whopping 64,000 jobs, posing a significant problem for an industry that must produce enough housing to meet demand from Canada’s ever-growing population — and the best workers for the job are newcomers, a recent RBC report suggests.

A record number of newcomers, around 1.45 million, are expected to enter Canada by the end of 2025, which will help shrink the number of job vacancies in the country, especially in industries such as manufacturing, health care and construction facing a looming wave of retirements.

“Construction workers are needed to build more housing in partnership with the skilled trades, which is a ‘greying industry’ because a large portion of this sector is set to retire in the next decade,” said Carrie Freestone, RBC economist and report co-author, “and we do not have enough workers in Canada to fill the gaps.”

Certain industries are set to feel the pain more acutely than others, the report argues, as roughly a quarter of workers in manufacturing, utilities, business, finance, administration, trades and transportation will reach retirement age in the next decade. That’s more than 800,000 workers.

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