. employers also have a role to play in revising their own hiring practices. improving the efficiency of the labour market the second margin is to get more of the labour force working. this means ensuring that workers have the skills employers are seeking, which speaks to the importance of ongoing dialogue between industry, labour and institutions for postsecondary education. it also means getting workers to where the jobs are being created. migration has always been an important adjustment mechanism for the canadian economy and we see signs that workers are, in fact, becoming more mobile. recent bank research suggests that long travel distances across canada may not be as great a barrier to labour mobility as they once were. 8 over the past decade and a half, people have moved from regions with excess labour to those with the tightest labour markets, leading to the convergence of unemployment, participation and employment rates ( chart 12 ). by 2011, the gap or disparity in employment rates across the 10 provinces was at its lowest level since 1976 ( as far back as data are available ) and not very different from the dispersion of employment rates across the united states. nonetheless, barriers to interprovincial migration that are not related to distance, such as differences in occupational licensing, remain an obstacle. the new west partnership trade agreement could be an important step to bringing down such barriers, as could the 2009 amendments to the agreement on internal trade ( ait ). improving productivity the final margin is improving labour productivity. indeed, over the longer term, productivity growth has the greatest potential to boost prosperity. regrettably, it is also where our performance has been the worst. 9 t. carter, m. pandey and j. townsend, “ the manitoba provincial nominee program : attraction, integration and retention of immigrants, ” irpp study no. 10, october 2010. d. amirault, d. de munnik and s. miller, “ what drags and drives mobility : explaining canada ’ s aggregate migration patterns, ” working paper no. 2012 – 28, bank of canada, 2012. t. macklem, “ canada ’ s competitive imperative : investing in productivity gains ” ( speech to productivity alberta, edmonton, 1 february, 2011 ). bis central bankers ’ speeches productivity growth in canada has ranged from disappointing to dismal. since 2001, canada ’ s productivity growth has slowed to historically low rates and has languished well below u. s. rates. from 2000 to 2011, productivity growth in the

market participation rate of workers over 50 has increased by more than 12 percentage points since 1995. this is being facilitated by the fact that canadians are, on average, healthier than ever and that more jobs today are knowledge - based. corporate policies and technology that support more flexible working arrangements, together with targeted training and employment information programs, will be needed to further improve labour market access for aging workers. on this issue, i know i ’ m preaching to the converted here in manitoba. the innovative thirdquarter project initiated by you and your colleagues in the manitoba chambers of commerce, which is helping to match employers with experienced workers over 50, is the sort of creative thinking we need to address our demographic challenges. 6 second – and this point is particularly important here in manitoba – we must redouble our efforts to address unemployment among aboriginal people. their unemployment rate is above the canadian average and their participation rate is lower. moreover, the aboriginal population is growing faster and has a higher proportion of young people than the overall “ september 2012 results of sme business outlook survey, ” business barometer, canadian federation of independent business, 3 october 2012. j. boivin, “ aging gracefully : canada ’ s inevitable demographic shift ” ( speech to the economic club of canada, toronto, 4 april 2012 ). for details on the thirdquarter program, see : www. thirdquarter. ca. bis central bankers ’ speeches canadian population. improving the access to jobs for aboriginal people is the right thing to do for many reasons. the demographic squeeze is just one more reason. this all points to the importance of public and private initiatives to successfully launch the careers of more aboriginal people in the workforce. and third, immigration is critical for the growth of the labour force. without immigration, the canadian population would be expected to shrink over the next 50 years. and here again, manitoba is serving as an example for others. when the federal government introduced provincial nominee programs to influence the regional distribution of immigrants and allow the provinces to address local labour needs, manitoba took the lead in using the program. 7 as a result, although foreign migrants to canada are more naturally attracted to our largest urban centres, winnipeg, and manitoba more broadly, punch above their weight at attracting foreign migrants. but attracting foreign migrants is only the first step. we must also tear down the barriers that keep educated and skilled immigrants from contributing to their full potential. recent federal government initiatives to support improvements in the recognition of foreign credentials are a welcome step