New
data shows solution to labour shortages not just about
wages
Toronto, Ontario,
July 28, 2014 – The
latest Help
Wanted report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business’ (CFIB)
clearly shows that when employers have open jobs, they try to attract talent by
raising wages, yet severe labour shortages persist. This disproves a common
belief that businesses with labour shortages simply need to pay higher wages to
attract staff.
“Employers with at
least one long-term job vacancy expect to increase wages by significantly more
than do employers without vacancies,” said Ted Mallett, CFIB’s chief economist
and vice-president. “This differential exists across all provinces and
industries, and interestingly, is most pronounced in the hospitality
sector.”
Most
businesses in the hospitality and retail sectors were recently excluded from
using the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) to address severe labour
shortages. Minister of Employment and Social Development Jason Kenney has gone
so far as to lecture employers that all they need to do is raise wages to
attract local Canadian talent. These latest findings, based on CFIB data from
2009 to 2014, suggest they are already doing so.
“This
is remarkable labour market data that no one, not even the government has
gathered,” added CFIB president Dan Kelly. “We think this merits the government
taking a fresh look at the TFWP and other options like using the permanent
immigration system to help employers that are desperate for workers, and just
can’t attract the staff they need locally.”
The
latest job vacancy numbers – for Q1 – remained fairly stable, with approximately
312,000
full and part-time
jobs remaining unfilled, a rate of 2.6 per cent.
The quarterly
report is based on surveys of CFIB members on economic and business conditions,
including labour shortages. Job vacancies in
the report are defined as openings that remain unfilled for at least four months
because business owners have been unable to find suitable employees.
The
smallest
businesses (between one and 19 employees) continue to bear the brunt of labour
shortages, with a vacancy rate of 4.1 per cent.
Broken
down by province, the vacancy rate was once again highest in Alberta (3.8 per
cent) and Saskatchewan (3.6) in Q1. British Columbia (2.8) had the biggest
increase in the quarter. Meanwhile, Manitoba (2.7), Newfoundland and Labrador
(2.6) and Quebec continued to hover around the national average. The lowest
vacancy rates were in Ontario (2.2) and the Maritimes (around 2).
Vacancies were
steady in most sectors in Q1, with retail, hospitality, manufacturing and
construction continuing to have the most potential job openings, more than
35,000 each.
Read
the full report at www.cfib.ca.
This outfit will conjure up their own studies and slant the outcome the way they want them.
ReplyDeleteBottom line - they want the cheapest labour they can find.
Fast food outlets want out-of-country workers so they can make them work like slaves, so they're afraid to complain about anything, fearing they'll get sent back home and to charge them outrageous room and board rates.
The Canadian Federation of Business is only interested in themselves - not workers, not Canadian workers they'd have to watch how they treat.