I want to buy some wheat. Hard red spring. I’m willing to pay $7 a bushel.
Wait, you mean to tell me it’s worth $11.74 a bushel these days, according to the latest figures from the province?
But I can’t afford that! It’s more than I want to pay! I’ll never turn a profit at that price! Why doesn’t anyone want to sell wheat anymore?
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At that point, most wheat growers would likely have a response somewhere along the lines of ‘cry me a river, that’s what it’s worth’ – if not something featuring a few choicer words and perhaps a suggestion of where to go and how to get there. And that’s fine. It’s exactly how a free market is supposed to work.
But in recent days, it seems these rules don’t apply to the labour market – at least as a few prospective employers tell it.
A recent Winnipeg Free Press article entitled “Hired today, gone tomorrow” delved into local businesses’ difficulty in attracting employees.
To put it plainly, there was a whole lot of worker blaming going on. Sources quoted in the article included a restaurateur, the administrator of a construction firm, the spokesperson for a small-and-medium-sized business lobby group and a recruiting firm. Notably absent from the article was a worker, or even an organization representing the interests of workers.
According to sources quoted, it’s a worker wasteland out there. If you’re lucky enough to get applicants, they ghost the interviews. If they’re hired, they may or may not show up. And if they do show up, they probably won’t stick around.
Buried in the article is an interesting statistic that probably explains why: 4.4 per cent. That’s Manitoba’s current unemployment rate.
It’s been famously observed that “it’s difficult to make someone understand something when their salary depends upon them not understanding it.”
For many employers and the lobby groups that represent them, this seems to be the case regarding the ongoing and possibly chronic labour shortage.
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One academic from the University of Victoria recently noted the labour shortage will continue for at least the next five years. Others, including the World Bank, say even that gloomy prognostication is likely too rosy. Its figures suggest Canada’s working population will decline more than three per cent between 2026 and 2036, despite high immigration targets.
It also predicts a similarly dire labour situation for other developed countries. The U.S., U.K. and France are all expected to see a decline in their labour force. Germany is in an even worse spot, as an expected seven per cent drop in its labour pool is forecast over the same period.
Employers may have to admit that the problem doesn’t lie with lazy and feckless workers, but rather with a fundamental change in the labour market. They might have to offer higher wages, better working conditions and more stability to attract employees.
It’s no accident that the industries hit hardest appear to be the least attractive from an employee perspective. We’re talking about food service, retail, manufacturing, construction, trucking – and agriculture.
According to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, which was also quoted in the Free Press article, 74 per cent of Canadian agri-business owners are working more hours to make up for lack of staff. Nearly half of those businesses have turned down business because of the labour shortage and 41 per cent have “decreased service offerings.”
The Canadian Agriculture Human Resources Council is in the midst of formulating a strategy to combat labour shortages throughout the agri-food sector, and recently released an interim report on the effort.
Reporter Geralyn Wichers covered this in our Dec. 7 issue of the Co-operator, and noted there are five key areas under investigation:
- people and workplace culture;
- perception and awareness;
- skill development;
- automation and technology; and
- immigration and foreign workers.
Too often it seems immigration and foreign workers are seen as a cure-all, but that’s lazy thinking that should be avoided.
Our stated immigration policy is to court skilled workers where shortages exist. These folks shouldn’t be viewed as a source of cheap labour.
And temporary foreign workers will either leave after a short time, as the very name suggests, or they’ll gain permanent residency. The second that happens, don’t count on them sticking around if better jobs are on offer. They’ll act in their own self-interest.
The obvious question here is clear. What’s being done to make the sector a better and more attractive place to work?
Until there’s a clear and credible answer to that, don’t expect a quick solution to labour woes.
Solving it is going to require a concentrated effort and a willingness to change.
