Sat 8 Mar 2008
John Morrissy, Canwest News Service Published: Friday, March 07, 2008
OTTAWA - A strong economy and and an aging population created a shortage in qualified labour that cut across every province and every sector in 2007, says the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
The shortage hit a record high last year, with 309,000 jobs remaining open for at least four months, said the group. Small or middle-sized companies represents 60 per cent of employment in Canada.
“Even with current economic uncertainties, Canadian demographics suggest that the shortage of qualified labour is a problem that is not going away anytime soon,” said Garth Whyte, the group’s executive vice-president.
“This is not a Western Canadian problem. It is affecting every province and underlines the need for long-term solutions.”
As a result of the labour shortage, Whyte said, businesses are forced to hire underqualified or inexperienced staff.
A major concern is that this is forcing businesses to pass up on prospects. In Alberta, for instance, where the long-term job vacancy rate has been stuck in a high range for years, 40% of members say as a result they don’t pursue new opportunities.
The problem in filling highly skilled jobs has been growing for years now, at a rate of 50% a year, and where once it affected one on four members, it now affects one in three, he said.
Whyte links the long-term job vacancy rate to recent census data showing that for the first time there are as many people in the workforce 40 or above as there are below 40. This means as many people leave the workforce as are now entering it.
Piecemeal government efforts to solve the problem cannot make up for the country’s lack of a long-term strategy to deal with it, Whyte said.
More than any other area, it is trades jobs - particularly construction - that are going unfilled, and Whyte questioned whether current immigration policies that favour university-educated immigrants needs to be revisited.
He also questioned whether the current unemployment program is doing a sufficient job of matching those out of work with jobs needing to be filled.
Moreover, he said, the country lacks a concerted training policy between business and provincial and federal governments.
Sectors hardest hit are the construction, hospitality, mining, forestry and agriculture sectors.
Related Alberta Jobs:
- Trades contest boon for Calgary employers
- Alberta Leads in Unemployment
- Canadian jobless rate falls to 33-year low of 5.8 per cent in January
- Manufacturing’s Skilled Labour Shortage
- Calgary Will Need Quarter Million Workers In Next Decade
