tech talk part deux

This is an addendum to one of my posts last week regarding comments made by Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development - he hopes that that Trudeau's new budgetary measures will attract "top-notch workers, scientists and scholars from the U.S."

Lets look at the competition he and Canada faces in trying to attract U.S. workers. USA Today published an article this past weekend on "Tech Job Migration" (the link is at bottom of Blog. The salient points from this article are...

• There are more than 500,000 open computing jobs nationwide, according to Code.org
• Paysa, a career advice website, states there will be more than 1 million job postings in the U.S. in the first three months of this year.
• Annual salaries were lowest in the Midwest ($76,999) and South ($84,414)

Many Tech startups and even existing "Big Players" are relocating to cities like Phoenix, Tucson, Houston and Denver for reasons of lower operating costs and an increased ability to attract new talent based on the lower costs for housing and lower costs of living.

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Lets take a look at the attraction for a potential tech employee and what they will choose Phoenix for example over Ottawa.

Taxes & Cost of Living

An individual in Phoenix making $80K will have a tax rate, before deductions of 17.9%. The save individual in Ottawa will have a personal tax rate of 31.5% (nearly double). In Phoenix the worker will be able to purchase a 2,000 sq/ft home, within a 30 minute commute, for approximately $250K. The same home within a hour commute of Ottawa will cost approximately $650K. The employee in Phoenix will only require a downpayment of $12.5K with 100% of the mortgage interest being deductible. The Canadian will need $65K downpayment to obtain a reasonable mortgages rate without CMHC Insurance. Taxes on the Phoenix house will be $1,900/yr whereas the property taxes on the Ottawa home would be $6,000/yr. Utilities, gas and other costs of living are approximately 17% higher in Ottawa than in Phoenix (https://www.expatistan.com). HST tax in Ottawa 13% in Phoenix 8.6% (only on goods, services not taxed). Health Care, the Ottawa employee will receive "Free" Healthcare, the company will, in all likelihood, have a Benefits package for the employee. As of January 2016  U.S. employers are required to provide adequate health insurance coverage options for employees. At a minimum the Phoenix company will provide the employee with 70 percent/30 percent. Out of pocket premium expense (fully deductible) for the employee would range from $1,118 for single or individual employee coverage; $2,824 for employee-plus-one coverage and $4,236 for family coverage.

Will all the above taken into consideration the Phoenix employee will have approximately $38,000 more for discretionary spending per year than the Ottawa employee!

​Get ready for the stampede Minister Navdeep Bains!!!!!
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