30,000 B.C. businesses report a shortage of workers
Michael Kane
Sun
In B.C., construction, agriculture and hospitality are particularly hard hit, and medium-skilled jobs that require some apprenticeship training or a college education are in the greatest demand. Getty Images
Labour shortages have reached an all-time high in British Columbia, with 30,000 small- and medium-sized businesses reporting positions unfilled for at least four months during 2006.
More than 250,000 such vacancies exist across Canada, affecting roughly one in four businesses, according to a study released Wednesday by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
Labour shortages are hurting productivity and profits by forcing some small firms to turn down business, said Laura Jones, B.C. and Yukon vice-president for the CFIB.
“And that’s bad news for all British Columbians because basically we are not seeing the kind of growth in the economy that we could see if we had these positions filled,” Jones said. “It’s economic growth that allows us to spend more on things that we all value like health care and education.”
The study looked at the number of businesses that couldn’t fill at least one full-time or part-time job for four months or more, as well as at the overall number of long-term job vacancies.
Concern about staffing shortages is high across the country, but is most dire in the West. In Alberta, 42 per cent of businesses reported one or more vacancies of at least four months, followed by B.C. at 34 per cent.
While the long-term vacancy rate was 3.6 per cent of all positions in small and medium-sized firms across Canada, that number flipped to 6.3 per cent in Alberta, followed by 5.7 per cent in Saskatchewan, 4.3 per cent in B.C., and 4.2 per cent in Manitoba.
In B.C., construction, agriculture and hospitality are particularly hard hit, and medium-skilled jobs that require some apprenticeship training or a college education are in the greatest demand.
“Increasingly we’re hearing from our members that one of the ways they are coping with the shortage of labour is just to say no to additional jobs,” Jones said in an interview.
“We’re starting to hear about businesses operating shorter hours and I even heard from one hotel up north where you can book a room but you have to make your own bed.”
Jones couldn’t remember the name of the business owner but said, “It’s a real story and it’s the kind of story we are hearing. In some cases, the owners are doing the dishes. This is the exception, not the rule, but this is how serious a problem it is becoming.”
Wage pressures and poaching by larger firms are both concerns for businesses in British Columbia, especially the smallest with four employees or fewer which report the province’s highest long-term vacancy rate at 10 per cent.
“Certainly in a competitive market there’s upward pressure on wages and that’s tough for a small business,” Jones said. “It’s also tough to invest in training and then have those employees move to other businesses of any size, but it is particularly tough for smaller businesses.”
Across Canada, four in 10 small firms are most desperate to find skilled trades employees such as carpenters, chefs or plumbers.
About one-third of employers need staff with secondary school or specialized, occupation-specific training like drivers, child-care workers or machine operators.
Firms are also increasingly short of entry-level workers with 17 per cent most in need of workers to fill positions requiring no formal education.
