those who can ’ t balance standard work hours or locations with other demands in their life. increased immigration also provides an opportunity to add workers and skills. while the pandemic cut immigrant flows nearly in half in 2020, canada met its ambitious immigration target for 2021, and further increases are projected for 2022. education has also been a challenge throughout the pandemic. but we can ’ t afford to lose our education edge. in 2020, 60 % of canadians had a college or 8 see a. bellatin and g. galassi, “ canadian job postings in digital sectors during covid - 19, ” bank of canada staff analytical note no. 2021 - 18 ( august 2021 ). 9 see j. m. barrero, n. bloom and s. j. davis, “ why working from home will stick, ” national bureau of economic research working paper no. 28731 ( april 2021 ). 10 see n. bloom, s. j. davis and y. zhestkova, “ covid - 19 shifted patent applications toward technologies that support working from home, ” aea papers and proceedings vol. 111 ( may 2021 ). - 7university degree, compared with 50 % of americans, though we lag in advanced degrees. 11 university enrolment in canada by young adults has increased during the pandemic, which is encouraging. 12 and enrolment in university science, technology, engineering and math ( stem ) programs has been increasing over time. 13 businesses, too, have a critical role in training and preparing workers for new digital technologies. 14 new online learning platforms have reduced the cost, improved the flexibility and expanded the reach of learning. businesses must also be willing to pay up for talent, and that comes back to productivity — higher productivity pays for higher wages. 15 workers and the public sector also play critical roles in expanding our economy ’ s growth potential. workers must be prepared to update their skills and retrain throughout their careers, with the help of both their employers and the public sector. universities and colleges need to continue to expand stem programs and extend the development of digital and entrepreneurial skills more broadly. governments have to help get people launched and support business investment and opportunity. i hope we can dig more deeply into the challenges you see on that front as we turn to our discussion today. conclusion before we do that, let me conclude with the bank of canada ’ s role. we have a responsibility to deliver low, stable and predictable

inflation so canadians can plan and invest with confidence. at close to 5 %, the current rate of inflation is too high. this is well above our 2 % target. how did this happen? it is not the result of generalized excess demand in the canadian economy. our economy is only just now getting back to full capacity. the inflation we are experiencing today largely reflects global supply problems, most of which stem from the pandemic. with many services shut down, households around the world bought goods instead. but the pandemic has impaired supply chains, holding back both production and transportation. the result has been sharply higher prices for many goods. oil prices have also risen, and food prices are being boosted by poor harvests. while uncertainty remains, there is some evidence global supply chain problems may have peaked. as the pandemic recedes, conditions around the world should normalize, taking 11 organisation for economic co - operation and development, education at a glance 2021 : oecd indicators, table a1. 1 ( page 48, september 2021 ). 12 statistics canada, “ participation rate in education, population aged 15 to 29, by age and type of institution attended, ” table 37 - 10 - 0101 - 01 ( november 2021 ). 13 statistics canada, “ participation rate in education, population aged 15 to 29, by age and type of institution attended, ” table 37 - 0011 - 01 ( november 2021 ). 14 for much of the past two decades, canadian firms spent less on training per employee than their us counterparts ( conference board of canada, “ learning cultures lead the way : learning and development outlook — 14th edition [ january 2018 ] ). by the end of the last decade, the gap began to close, but this was mainly due to a decrease in spending by us firms. 15 see y. park, g. galassi and n. kyui “ learning and earning : the payoffs of higher education, ” bank of canada the economy, plain and simple ( october 7, 2020 ). - 8pressure off global goods prices. as this happens, we expect inflation to come down relatively quickly in the second half of 2022 to about 3 % by the end of the year. but to get inflation the rest of the way back to its 2 % target, we need a significant shift in monetary policy. that ’ s why, in january, we removed our exceptional commitment to hold the policy interest rate at its floor of 0. 25 % and told