But better data needed, right questions need to be asked to pre-empt it
Experts trying to solve Canada’s labour shortage have been focusing on the wrong questions, according to one opinion.
"The amount of discussion that has been generated on ‘Do we have labour shortages or not?’ is a distraction from the real issue," Tyler Meredith says.
Meredith, a research director with the Montreal-based Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP), said there needs to be improvement in the collection and analysis of labour market data and better engagement of employers and educational institutions in the creation of labour market policy.
Rather than focusing its energy on determining the existence of a current or future labour shortage, Meredith argues, the federal government should focus on making changes that will work to pre-empt it.
"Whether or not we have labour shortages, we need to be talking about practical things we can be doing to improve the outcomes for graduates and workers and to improve the competitiveness of Canadian businesses," Meredith said. "There’s a need to look at what we can be doing better."
Looking at a series of studies commissioned in 2013 by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Meredith argues there is no cause for alarm regarding the labour market.
"Despite the long and underwhelming recovery, Canada’s labour market is doing all right," says Meredith. "We do not lack talent, and the demand and supply of labour are fairly well balanced at the national level."
No evidence Canada
won't have enough workers: Study
The SSHRC’s studies found no evidence to support recent claims Canada’s labour force won’t have enough workers to meet demand between now and 2030. Instead, data indicates the labour force will continue to grow — albeit at a much slower rate.
The debate surrounding shortages, which persists despite data to the contrary, stems from a reliance on long-term labour market projections, Meredith said. Few would have predicted the current boom in technology thanks to the development of mobile applications — it is difficult to predict future labour shortages when we have so little idea what the future world will look like.
More micro-data is needed to better understand how firms respond to labour shortages and the data collected at a national level needs to be more qualitative. Employers and educational institutions also need to be more involved in the collection and analysis of data to create a more complete picture of Canada’s labour market.
"Frankly, businesses can’t just sit on the sidelines and snipe about the problems in the labour market," Meredith said. "They’ve got to be part of the solution. We also have to get beyond this aversion that exists in parts of the education system that say ‘We train graduates and we should be agnostic about the specific needs of the labour market because those are always changing.’ I think you need to bring both sides of the equation together."
Government, as the sole entity straddling all of the domains involved in the labour market, is the only player capable of bringing these pieces together, said Meredith.
Strong partnerships
needed: CFIB
Ted Mallett — vice president and chief economist with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) in Toronto — agreed a stronger partnership needs to be formed, saying employers need to be a part of the collection and analysis of data as it applies to labour market policy.
"Employers are the ones who see best the complexity associated with running a business and the challenges they face in the everyday administration of running a workforce," Mallett said. "But we’re dealing with snippets of information, sometimes overly simplified information. We’re trying to get an idea of what the moving picture is but we only have snapshots."
Context is necessary for the information provided — to employers, educators and government — to have a significant impact on the labour market.
Business owners
should be consulted
And as much as the expertise of employers is needed to properly analyze the labour market data, Mallett said it is equally important business owners are consulted in the creation of labour market policy.
"We want to make sure policy makers understand the micro-complexities of the labour market and are aware of the impact of various policies or requirements on those day-to-day administrations," Mallett said. "Even the best statistics will be only a very crude approximation of reality."
France St-Hilaire, vice president of research for the IRPP, hopes this collaboration will be forthcoming.
Ideally — through the collaboration of government, employers and educational institutes — future policy will focus less on sweeping programs that champion average outcomes and focus more on putting in place conditions under which the labour market will begin to work for the workers and employers.
"To have good policy you have to have good data," St-Hilaire said. "In order to improve our data collection systems and to identify the right research priorities, you have to understand what it is you have and what it is you are missing."
