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The Rising Demand for Qualified Personnel

October 3, 2011

There is an irony in the workplace: unemployment is growing but at the same time companies say they are finding it ever more difficult to find the right people for openings. This challenge faced by companies is a global issue, and appears to be particularly high in specialist jobs.

This is according to a recent report by the global employment agency, Manpower. The US-based firm with global presence interviewed 40,000 employers in 39 countries during the first quarter of this year for the study.

The report says that while two thirds of employers it had talked to said they did not have any trouble filling in positions, a third said they have, and this is a three-percent increase over last year.

And just how difficult it can be varies from country to country, with 80-percent of Japanese employers saying it is difficult finding the right person, followed by India where two thirds of the employers claimed the same.

In Canada, 29-percent of employers say they have difficulty finding the right people. On the other end of the spectrum, just four percent of Polish employers found it difficult to find the right people.

What is also noteworthy is that the two countries with the highest increase in employer difficulty in finding the correct employees come from the two different parts of the world – with the fast developing India topping with a rise from 16 percent in 2010 to 67 percent in 2011, while the US, the more mature economy going through a tough economic time, seeing it rising from 14-percent to 52 percent during the same period.

The Shortage of Technicians

Whether it is a fast-developing country or a mature economy, the sector that is the most challenging in terms of finding the appropriate employees is the same – technicians.

But there has been movement in this area: between 2008-2010, skilled trades workers topped the list, but this year this sector was pushed to the second place. Interestingly, the world is finding it difficult even to find labourers, who were the fifth most difficult sector, while secretaries, administrative assistants and other support staff were on the bottom of the top-ten list.

Few or No Applications

The reasons for the difficulty in finding the right people vary, with more than a quarter of the employers claiming the lack of experience to be the top reason. Interestingly, lack of sufficient applicants or no applicant at all comes a close second, cited by 24-percent of the employers.

Inadequate knowledge of the business or lack of adequate formal education is cited by 15-percent of the employers.

Obviously, the current status is a challenge not just to employers but also to countries as they compete in a globalized world.

No Initiative to Retain Staff

Yet, surprisingly, companies are not doing much to change the situation, either. Among the strategies undertaken by the companies to find best employees, training and development for existing staff is the mode employed by 21-ercent of the employers while 13-percent of them are resorting to going beyond the immediate region to hire staff.

Just eight percent of the employers are investing in developing strategies to retain staff in jobs where hiring is difficult.

And only six percent of the employers are talking to educational institutions to develop curriculum that will eventually help hire qualified personnel.

The full report can be found here.

 

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New Website to Help Jobseekers and Students

July 11, 2011

 

Canada’s unemployment has been slow to go down after the recession, but what is surprising, or perhaps not surprising, is that many employers say they are struggling without qualified personnel.

So, the Canadian government has come up with a new website. Running under workingincanada.gc.ca, the website is a treasure trove for those seeking jobs and for employers.

The main search function can be used by Job Title, Skills Set possessed or Qualification.

Perhaps one of the most important segments of the new website is the Jobs Outlook segment. It is not yet complete, but once it is, the segment will yield sectors for which there will be demand, or not, in the coming years.

The federal government says one key reason for this website is resolve what it, and some of the major employers of Canada, calls a skills crisis.

It says that there is already a shortage of experienced people in the health care, information technology and skilled trades. For example, some reports say there will be a shortage of as many as 60,000 nurses throughout the country in ten years time.

What is interesting is that while unemployment remains high in many developed countries, policy makers in these countries also say there is a shortage of skilled personnel, and this will get only worse in the coming years.

 

 

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Immigrants More Affected By Recession

August 1, 2009

Canada, like most other countries, is going through a recession. And as jobs are being cut across the board, among those first to be affected are those with immigrant background, particularly those who are considered ‘new immigrants’.

Recent studies have given proof to this. A report that appeared in the Globe and Mail newspaper says that in general, immigrants tend to lose jobs more easily than Canadian-born workers. And within the immigrants group, those who came to Canada recently can lose jobs faster than those who are more established.

The newspaper and Statistics Canada analysed unemployed data during two, three-month periods – ending June 2008 and June 2009. They found out that while unemployment among Canadian-born workers rose by 1.6 percent, it rose by three percent for established immigrants and 5.7 percent for recent immigrants.

And worse still, studies have found that even when the recession is over and the economy is bouncing back, immigrants find it difficult to find jobs that fit their experiences and qualifications.

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Jobless Numbers Go Up

July 28, 2009

The numbers keep rising. This is the fact when it comes to unemployment in Canada.

Statistics Canada says that in May of this year, 778,700 people were receiving employment insurance – or EI which is actually unemployment insurance. Compared to the previous month, this was a 9.2 percent increase.
This is a severe increase, compared to the increase of just under three percent that April witnessed, as compared to March, 2009.
The worst hit provinces were the oil-rich Alberta, where the low oil prices have caused a severe setback to the economy and Ontario, which has been hit by the crisis in the auto industry and lower demand abroad for manufactured goods.
The latest data comes just days after Bank of Canada, the country’s central bank, said the recession was over.
The bank says Canada’s economy will grow by a modest 1.3 percent during the current quarter ending September and then by three percent during the final quarter of this year.
However, officials say the labour market will be slow to pick up.

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Canada to Reduce Immigration Intake?

February 21, 2009

Canada might consider reducing the number of immigrants it will allow if the current economic downturn continues. That the numbers will go down is not confirmed, but the federal immigration minister, Jason Kenney, recently expressed his worry about bringing in newcomers to face a country in economic turmoil.

At present Canada’s unemployment rate stands at 7.2 percent and the trend is disturbing. In January, 2009, alone it jumped by more than half a percent, or by 129,000 in absolute numbers. The worst hit has been Ontario, where most of the immigrants prefer to go to.

Unemployment Forecast

Some analysts say, another 200,000 or even double that amount might lose their jobs during the course of this year.  The government predicts that it will take at least four more years for Canada to reach the employment level of last year.

Immigration Target

It is in this background that Canada’s immigration politics should be seen. Last year, the country allowed just under 250,000 new immigrants, most of them under the Economic Class. As well, Canada also allowed about 140,000 temporary workers and close to 80,000 foreign students last year.

For this year, Kenney says the target is between 240,000 to 265,000.

With the economy in a steep decline and job losses mounting, Canadian policy makers would be concerned about frictions that could arise if there are more newcomers while locals struggle to find jobs. Besides, settlement agencies have also expressed concern about the fact that immigrants tend to suffer more from unemployment than their Canadian-born counterparts, even if they have equal or better qualifications.

But for now, Kenney says, he will stick to his target for this year. But some analysts predict the number of temporary workers, mostly farm workers, might drop this year.

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