Does Canada really have a skilled labour shortage?

[KIDWCKED]

cbc
Brent Bambury of CBC Radio's Day 6 examines whether Canada has a labour shortage amid high unemployment.
Perrin Beatty, President and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said the shortage is about "specific skills" – for example, skills used in the Alberta oil fields. He adds that many Baby Boomers are also now retiring with no one to fill their shoes.
"In mining alone, in the next decade, they are going to need 80,000 workers… if you look at electricity, in 2013, we need 45,000 new workers."
Beatty says the energy sector, mainly in Western Canada, is “pulling in people from other sectors,” draining away workers from industries such as hospitality.
He also points out a lot of workers who have been laid off – particularly older ones , for instance, in the automotive industry in Ontario – are unprepared to move to another province for a job and therefore remain unemployed.
Meanwhile, Erin Weir, economist with the United Steelworkers, doesn’t believe there is a labour shortage.
"Some positions will always be vacant… looking at the [government data] there really isn’t an imbalance."
Weir says companies should be offering better wages.
"Canada has one of the most skilled labour forces in the world. We haven’t seen much of a wage increase in years – it’s only going up about an average of two per cent a year."
Weir says there are a lot of “anecdotes” about the skilled labour shortage but not much evidence.
"I think corporate Canada would like to hire workers at lower wages," said Weir. "Temporary foreign workers allow businesses to put workers in any region without having to train them or provide support for the move."

[jeldf]

I've heard IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers ) ad's on the radio offering apprenticeships. Sudbury still has tons of nickle and once Obama approves the pipeline, we'll both need workers.
But one side says we need workers and the other says we don't, we need better wages. Typical Union mentality. These guys need to wake up and face reality. The days of the guy sweeping the factory floor for $30/hr are gone!

[got2bme]

What are they really saying?

There is not a shortage of apprentices. They don't want apprentices.

They are complaining of a shortage of experienced workers.

Experienced workers (also means older, family people) have a job and do not not want to go work in the isolated conditions offered in Alberta.

That's why they have a shortage there.

[jeldf]

Ever run a business? You have experienced workers about to retire so you bring in newbies to learn and fill the void. You need to re-read the OP

[larrygw]

Business wants cheap labor. Thats what the shortage is."cheap labor" People need to get wages up instead of trying to get wages down.

[torpainter]

cheap labour?
The people they need in alberta make 45 plus an hour.Saskatchewan needs tons of labour for all the mining expansions and is flying people in from all over Canada The average tradesman grosses 10k a month plus 850 a week living allowance plus in/out expenses and only works 35 weeks a year

[The BK]

Like OMG ..... I am home ... a POLITICAL SECTION ...YEPPIE !!!!!

[waldo]

Canada does have a skilled labour shortage! You notice how the xxxxxxxxxs have tooken over the fast food industry..with that came bad service and even crappier food than before.so yes please train the people that are already here not bring in dps that just breed more dumb dps

[satchick]

I'm tempted to remove the above post....But since when is fast food considered to be skilled labor? As for the quality of service declining in those establishments, the ethnicity of the workers have nothing to do with it. When those establishments were staffed by high school kids, the service was just as bad. Reason being, those jobs are considered temporary, and a stepping stone to something better. Those jobs are also very low pay and provide few opportunities for advancement within the company. For those reasons, many of the people working there just don't care enough about the job to put any real effort into it. That's not right by any means, one should always do their job to the best of their ability regardless of what it is, but that's just the mentality of many employees in that industry.

Back to the topic at hand... Yes, there is a shortage of competent skilled workers. The biggest reason why is the education system and mentality of many parents and students. Skilled trades are still not given much respect, and everyone is encouraged to pursue a university education. The schools need to do a much better job of promoting the skilled trades as a viable career choice, and to make students aware that some of these trades actually exist!

[The BK]

I'm tempted to remove the above post....But since when is fast food considered to be skilled labor? As for the quality of service declining in those establishments, the ethnicity of the workers have nothing to do with it. When those establishments were staffed by high school kids, the service was just as bad. Reason being, those jobs are considered temporary, and a stepping stone to something better. Those jobs are also very low pay and provide few opportunities for advancement within the company. For those reasons, many of the people working there just don't care enough about the job to put any real effort into it. That's not right by any means, one should always do their job to the best of their ability regardless of what it is, but that's just the mentality of many employees in that industry.

Back to the topic at hand... Yes, there is a shortage of competent skilled workers. The biggest reason why is the education system and mentality of many parents and students. Skilled trades are still not given much respect, and everyone is encouraged to pursue a university education. The schools need to do a much better job of promoting the skilled trades as a viable career choice, and to make students aware that some of these trades actually exist!


Teachers are not getting paid enough .... right ??

[JCO]

Like OMG ..... I am home ... a POLITICAL SECTION ...YEPPIE !!!!!

No this is not political its basic economics..
If it was political or it becomes political I would close it down..

[satchick]

Teachers are not getting paid enough .... right ??

They really aren't, considering all the crap they have to put up with, plus all of the work they do outside of class time (which isn't paid). Teachers have one of the most important jobs out there, and deserve to be compensated accordingly. There are a lot of qualified teachers out there, the market in many districts is actually saturated. What is lacking in many places is competent teachers, and I believe that is partly due to the pay.

[Mr Hanky]

This should be in the humor section made my day.

[whoknows]

They really aren't, considering all the crap they have to put up with, plus all of the work they do outside of class time (which isn't paid). Teachers have one of the most important jobs out there, and deserve to be compensated accordingly. There are a lot of qualified teachers out there, the market in many districts is actually saturated. What is lacking in many places is competent teachers, and I believe that is partly due to the pay.


Well the incompetent teachers get the same pay, days off, snow days, pd days, and summers off as the competent ones. As far as teachers being compensated, tell that to the rest of the countries working force that does have to work hard for their money and not get near the benefits teachers get. Nice try though