Canada’s workforce is aging. Is it the wisdom economy — or a cost crunch?

Canada’s workforce is aging, according to new data from Statistics Canada.

The data raises questions of whether Canada is seeing more emphasis on what some are already calling a “wisdom economy” rather than the “knowledge economy” of recent years — or whether the cost of living is forcing older workers to stay in their jobs for longer.

Statistics Canada’s study released on Wednesday found that the number of firms with an average worker age over 40 rose from 26.2 per cent in 2001 to 42.3 per cent in 2022.

In addition, the share of workers aged 55 and older in each firm increased from 9.3 per cent in 2001 to 18.8 per cent in 2022.

Canada’s working‑age population (those aged 15 to 64) was also older than ever in 2021, with 21.8 per cent of individuals in this group were between the ages of 55 and 64.

The manufacturing sector was found to have experienced the largest increase in the share of workers aged 55 and older; as in 2001, 9.8 per cent of workers in this sector were in that age group.

By 2022, that number had risen to 24.2 per cent, meaning that by 2022, on average, nearly one in four manufacturing workers was aged 55 or older.

“It’s become less manual labour and somewhat less labour-intensive for a greater proportion of jobs than it was in the past,” said Nita Chhinzer, an associate professor in the department of management at the University of Guelph.

“It’s more symbiotic relationship with technology where technology is easing some of the manual and physical demands of labour and manufacturing, meaning that it is pushing less on older bodies.”

The findings coincide with prior Statistics Canada research that suggests that Canada’s overall population is aging, with annual demographic estimates finding that over the past two decades, the average age in Canada has increased by more than four years — from 37.5 in 2001 to 41.7 in 2021.

Wednesday’s study also notes that in 2023, “the population of individuals aged 65 and older surpassed the population of those younger than 18 for the first time in history.”

There are several likely factors behind the rising age of Canada’s workforce, experts say.

A May 2026 Wealthsimple survey found that retirement plans and long-term savings take a hit as the cost of raising a child remains high, with 35 per cent of couple with kids saying they had reduced contributions to retirement savings in order to keep up with costs associated to raising a child.

Canada has pulled back its immigration levels over recent years, and Chhinzer also pointed to Canada’s declining fertility rates, which as of 2024 hit a record low with 1.25 children per woman.

Separate Statistics Canada research from January 2026 states that 51.1 per cent of Canadian women aged 20 to 49 years were not mothers — roughly one in four, for women over 40, stating that “increased educational levels, greater participation in the labor market, changing social norms and the widespread use of contraception have contributed to diversifying life patterns, notably in terms of childbearing.”

Canada’s population also saw its third consecutive population decline in the first quarter of 2026, with Canada’s population currently estimated to be 41,417,056 as of April 1, 2026, down 55,025 people from Jan. 1.

As a result, it is possible that organizations want to maintain longstanding employees for as long as possible.

“Some fields require more deeper expertise, some skill traits for instance, and it needs years and years of experience, so replacing these people or developing this talent can be really difficult.”

Over the last several decades, many workers have been trained to operate in what’s typically called a “knowledge economy”: one that prizes knowledge as a key skill in workers amid the rise of the internet and globalization.

With the growth of artificial intelligence, there’s also been growing conversation about the “wisdom economy” being the new metric for key skills in workers, with Google Trends data revealing a sharp growth in searches for the term that appears to have started in July 2025.

Gulseren defines a wisdom economy as an understanding of “the highest form of capabilities.”

“You don’t only use knowledge, but also use self-regulation, moral maturity, sound judgment. A good understanding and judgment or insights, not individual insights, but also collectivism and putting those resources into work and producing an economy with it,” she said.

Chhinzer also added that a wisdom economy goes beyond principles, practices or regulation.

“It’s less about being an expert in a product or a process or a system, and it’s more about moving into, ‘do you know what your requirements are in your complex environment? Do you know why things matter? Do you how to allocate resources?’ Wisdom is this amalgamation of skills or competencies around knowing what matters and knowing how to get things done.”

Chhinzer said that this is a concept that is not just affecting Canada but is in fact a global issue.

“If I’m hiring people based on their knowledge or their wisdom, then the regional limitations of say the manual economy or the labour economy no longer exist,” she said.

“I could have the best worker possible working for me who’s in Arizona or who’s in Bangladesh or who is in Singapore, so this is not a Canada versus the rest of the world. This is something we’ve been suffering from.”

Gulseren also added that this line of thinking is needed at this time.

“We need more wisdom now, because the knowledge is so readily accessible, but the wisdom piece is more needed.”

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