Employers can’t find ‘right skilled people’
While there are plenty of Niagara companies hoping to hire workers, there aren’t enough job-seekers qualified to do the work that’s available.
“I’m seeing an increase in employers ready to hire who are saying they can’t find the right skilled people,” said Kelly Jones, program manager at Employment Solutions.
Although Labour Force Survey results published last week by Statistics Canada set the region’s unemployment rate at the lowest it has been since at least 2001, Jones said Niagara’s shortage of skilled trades people needs to be addressed before the jobless rate will be able to drop significantly below the 4.7 per cent figure recorded for December.
“A lot of the jobs are there, it’s just how do we pay for the training?” he said.
Jones said there are tax credits and other programs available to assist employers, including a program offered through his Welland-based employment services agency for workplaces that take on apprentices.
However, he said, funding available is inadequate when it can take years to train workers.
“The funding that we provide just through Employment Ontario is only $8,000, in that range. That’s not including federal and provincial tax credits and kickbacks for buying tools and stuff like that — there’s more to it,” he said. “I think there needs to be more money for apprenticeships, and so on.”
Ontario Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development Monte McNaughton addressed the shortage of skilled trades during a presentation at the Empire Club in Toronto, Wednesday, where he called on business leaders to take on more apprentices.
“It’s time for the business community to step up to the plate,” McNaughton wrote on Twitter following his presentation, while also announcing “a listening tour” to discuss Ontario’s apprenticeship system.
“If government is part of the problem, I want to make sure that government becomes part of the solution,” he said.
Meanwhile, job-seekers who have skills that are in demand need to ensure prospective employers know what they have to offer.
“It’s amazing when you change someone’s resume around and get it into the right hands, how quickly things can happen,” Jones said.
Niagara Workforce Planning Board operations and research manager Adam Durrant said his organization has found “recurring themes” among local employers regarding the way they prefer to recruit new staff, through annual Employer One surveys as well as a recent project focusing on skilled trades. “Employers have in some cases a preference to hiring through professional networks and referral networks,” Durrant said. “If I were a job-seeker right now, I’d want to make sure I was doing everything I could to make sure I was visible.”