Study: labour shortage in B.C. existed before pandemic began

The CFIB says that the hospitality sector felt the biggest crunch in labour shortage.

Scott says that a common critique of the industry is that businesses should pay higher wages. According to their research, they found businesses did just that.

The problem is that there weren’t enough skilled applicants for open jobs.

“We’re going to need to figure out how we can get more people that are willing to do jobs and provide services to these communities.” said Scott.

The province says it’s aware of the challenges that businesses are facing and are actively looking for solutions such providing better resources for skills training and child care for workers who need it.

Immigration changes is another option.

“Of course we gonna need immigration, but we wanna make sure that people that come here get a chance to contribute to teh communtiy and aren’t just used to undercut wages.” said Ravi Khalon, B.C. Minister of Jobs.

Remarkably, Khalon says that the province has higher employment now than compared to at the start of the pandemic. He attributes that to a large increase of people moving to B.C. from other provinces.

“We’ve had 35,000 people from other provinces move to British Columbia this past year. That’s the biggest increase in 30 years. It’s a positive sign, it shows that people see B.C. in particular as a place to come and get opportunities and raise their families.” said Khalon.

CFIB adds that it’s not just employees that need help. Businesses that have suffered economically should receive incentives that would help keep their doors open.

by Oli Herrera

Study: labour shortage in B.C. existed before pandemic began

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