It’s the top issue for executives based in B.C. and No. 2 issue for those in Alberta
Eric Beauchesne
Sun
OTTAWA — A shortage of skilled workers has become a top concern for both business and labour leaders, and has surpassed tax cuts as the No. 1 issue for bosses in British Columbia, and is the No. 2 issue for them in Alberta, survey results being released today reveal.
The results of the survey, obtained exclusively by CanWest News Service, should reinforce the new Conservative government’s campaign commitments to boost federal support for workplace training, said Shirley Seward, CEO of the Canadian Labour and Business Centre, which conducted the survey.
Those commitments include a $1,000 grant to help apprentices cover workplace costs, a $500 tools tax deduction for existing tradespeople, and a tax credit of up to $2,000 for businesses that establish new apprenticeship positions.
Seward applauded those and other workplace commitments, noting they should help address financial problems facing apprentices which has resulted in an increasing dropout rate.
The survey by the business and labour research group, meanwhile, found that six out of 10 managers and labour leaders judged skill shortages as a serious problem for the economy and labour market.
That’s up substantially from the previous survey just three years ago, and from 1996 when the first survey found that the issue was “barely on the radar,” Seward said in an interview Tuesday.
Now, 90 per cent see skill shortages as at least a moderate problem, while fewer than 10 per cent said it is “not a problem.”
It was more often rated as a “serious problem” by public service managers than any of 42 social, economic and labour market issues.
“For private sector managers, the shortage of skilled labour ranked third, behind long-standing concerns about personal and corporate taxes, but ahead of international trade issues, productivity performance, and government deficits and debt,” Seward noted in a memo to the centre’s board. “Managers and labour leaders are concerned about skill shortages for good reason — they are experiencing them first hand.”
One out of every two managers said occupational shortages currently exist within their own organization, and a similar proportion of labour leaders said occupational shortages are currently present in their members’ workplaces. The most common shortage in the private sector is in skilled trades, and in the public sector professionals.
The increased concern reflects the combination of the aging of the workforce and rising skill requirements resulting from technological changes and globalization, Seward said.
The survey of 1,169 business, labour and public sector leaders, the fifth over the past decade, was conducted through the fall.
Nationally, high personal taxes is the top concern of private sector managers, cited by 71 per cent as a serious problem, followed by high corporate taxes, cited by 62 per cent, and then a shortage of skilled labour, cited by 57 per cent.
In Alberta, high personal taxes was the top concern among private sector managers, cited by 70 per cent of respondents. A shortage of skilled labour was cited by 67 per cent, with high corporate taxes next on the list of concerns.
Managers and labour leaders also agreed on top priority actions needed to address the issue over the coming five years, including the upgrading of the skills of current employees.
However, the survey results suggest challenges ahead.
Many managers warned about difficulties they will have increasing compensation in order to attract and retain workers, and covering the “too high” costs of training, while labour leaders commonly complained of the low priority management was placing on meeting skills needs, the memo noted.
Still, 80 per cent of managers and virtually all of the labour leaders surveyed felt it was important for business, labour and government to work together to improve the quantity and quality of workplace training, it also said.
© The Vancouver Sun 2006
