OTTAWA - Small business owners are facing labour shortages that could worsen as Canada's economy gets set for an upswing. A new survey shows nearly 265,000 job openings, with 185,000 of them unfilled for four months.

Of 102,000 business owners surveyed by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) during the first three months of this year, 26 per cent had at least one opening. This represented 4.5 per cent of all available openings.

"What's interesting, is that these numbers are virtually identical to those we collected in the final quarter of 2000," said CFIB executive vice-president Garth Whyte. "That indicates two things to me first, that small business is continuing to create jobs at a phenomenal rate and, second, that the shortage of qualified labour may actually worsen as the economy strengthens."

Biggest shortage was in the construction industry, which has current and long-term openings of 7.2 per cent and 5.5 per cent, respectively. Business services and the hospitality sector also reported above average shortages of 5.5 per cent and 4.9 per cent. At the other end of the scale, the transportation, communications and wholesale industries were slightly below average, with vacancies ranging from 3.1 to 3.5 per cent.

Nationwide, Alberta has the greatest shortage of skilled workers -- 7.0 per cent of unfilled openings and 5.4 per cent of long-term vacancies. Manitoba is also above the national average, with 6.4 per cent of current openings.

Newfoundland, British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec all fell below average, but it is believed their numbers of unfilled vacancies could rise as the economy improves.

Recommendations to be presented by the CFIB to the federal government, businesses and educators include:

• Use the immigration system more effectively to tap into skilled labour.
• Reduce barriers to labour market entry and mobility within regions.
• Cut taxes on job creation to release more money for wages and training.
• Increase awareness of the small business sector among educators at all levels.
• Take advantage of co-op programs to improve training and skill sets.
• Restructure social programs to entice potential employees back into the work force.

Said the federation's Garth Whyte "The CFIB will be undertaking a major skills, training-shortage of labour survey with input from the federal and provincial governments over the summer to provide further detail on pragmatic solutions to this important issue".

For a full version of the survey, visit:
www.cfib.ca/research/reports/helpwanted2002_e.pdf.

 

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