Another 600,000 manufacturing jobs are still in jeopardy, but skilled workers remain scarce
The loss of manufacturing jobs to other parts of the world has evidently bottomed out in the United States. Some reports from south of the border suggest the remnants of the blue-collar workforce are relatively safe because what’s left, for the most part, can’t be sent overseas.
On this side of the border, the manufacturing picture has been grim. An estimated 200,000 manufacturing jobs were lost last year, and January saw a whopping 42,000 more disappear.
Pierre Laliberté, senior economist at the Canadian Labour Congress, said the bleeding hasn’t stopped. There are currently about two million manufacturing jobs in the country, a number he doesn’t expect to hold.
“Given our rising dollar, Asian competition and generally the way the whole global economy is going, I think, ball park, 600,000 of our manufacturing jobs are in jeopardy,” said Laliberté. “That gives you the magnitude of the change that may be coming.”
Yet there are many skilled manufacturing jobs going unfilled. Demand for skilled workers has long been high and is likely to remain so despite the losses. Salaries for skilled workers will continue to climb.
Deloitte surveyed Canadian industries last year and found that over the next three to five years, 70 per cent expect shortages of white-collar workers, while 53 per cent expect shortages of blue-collar workers.
“And, of course, manufacturing employs both colours of collars,” said consultant Susan Barrett, the senior manager of Deloitte’s human capital practice. “Those manufacturing folks are having real difficulty filling positions at all levels — from machinists, to welders, to engineers and to marketers.”
The critical issue that needs to be questioned, said Barrett, is why there is a “lack of skill and experience in the marketplace.”
Jeff Brownlee, spokesman for the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME), agreed.
“In our 20/20 survey of over 3,000 manufacturers we asked what were their top-of-mind issues that were affecting their business both now and in the future,” said Brownlee. “Not surprisingly we got the (rise of the) dollar and China, but they put skill shortage way up at the top. And we heard the same story from coast to coast whether we were in St. John’s, Baie Comeau, Comox or Mississauga.”
That result reflected the findings of a CME-assisted report put out by the Canadian Labour and Business Centre in 2004 predicting that over the following 15 years some 400,000 Canadian manufacturing jobs would go vacant for lack of skilled people to fill them.
A big reason why jobs are going unfilled, according to Brownlee, is that manufacturing has the wrong image.
“It’s the traditional four ‘Ds’ that we associate with the industry,” he said. “Manufacturing is seen as dirty, depressing, declining and dangerous. So kids aren’t going into it. But that image is not really in step with the 21st century reality of what manufacturing, and all its high technologies, is today.”
The answer, said Deloitte’s Barrett, is that the industry needs to create a sharp re-branding of its image and then make a more wholehearted effort at planning and forecasting their human resource needs.
“Manufacturers need to do what we consultants like to call strategic workforce planning,” said Barrett. “Markets are changing, technology is changing, and all businesses are being affected. So, in short, nowadays you have to think ahead. You have to figure out who you need in your business now, where are you going to have gaps, where are you going to source them and how you’re going to train them.”
That puts the CLC’s Laliberté in agreement with both Barrett and Brownlee about the real question that should be raised concerning Canadian manufacturing jobs.
“We need to ask ourselves as both businesses and governments about our skills agenda,” says Laliberté. “And I don’t think either has been pro-active enough. It’s understandable since most of our manufacturing base is made up of small to medium-sized producers. As a result, they have a hard time capitalizing and modernizing their equipment. However, there are ways, as our threatened clothing sector has shown, of re-tooling and re-orienting production towards higher quality goods and surviving. So all need not be lost.”
Andy Shaw is a Toronto-based freelance writer.
On this side of the border, the manufacturing picture has been grim. An estimated 200,000 manufacturing jobs were lost last year, and January saw a whopping 42,000 more disappear.
Pierre Laliberté, senior economist at the Canadian Labour Congress, said the bleeding hasn’t stopped. There are currently about two million manufacturing jobs in the country, a number he doesn’t expect to hold.
“Given our rising dollar, Asian competition and generally the way the whole global economy is going, I think, ball park, 600,000 of our manufacturing jobs are in jeopardy,” said Laliberté. “That gives you the magnitude of the change that may be coming.”
Yet there are many skilled manufacturing jobs going unfilled. Demand for skilled workers has long been high and is likely to remain so despite the losses. Salaries for skilled workers will continue to climb.
Deloitte surveyed Canadian industries last year and found that over the next three to five years, 70 per cent expect shortages of white-collar workers, while 53 per cent expect shortages of blue-collar workers.
“And, of course, manufacturing employs both colours of collars,” said consultant Susan Barrett, the senior manager of Deloitte’s human capital practice. “Those manufacturing folks are having real difficulty filling positions at all levels — from machinists, to welders, to engineers and to marketers.”
The critical issue that needs to be questioned, said Barrett, is why there is a “lack of skill and experience in the marketplace.”
Jeff Brownlee, spokesman for the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME), agreed.
“In our 20/20 survey of over 3,000 manufacturers we asked what were their top-of-mind issues that were affecting their business both now and in the future,” said Brownlee. “Not surprisingly we got the (rise of the) dollar and China, but they put skill shortage way up at the top. And we heard the same story from coast to coast whether we were in St. John’s, Baie Comeau, Comox or Mississauga.”
That result reflected the findings of a CME-assisted report put out by the Canadian Labour and Business Centre in 2004 predicting that over the following 15 years some 400,000 Canadian manufacturing jobs would go vacant for lack of skilled people to fill them.
A big reason why jobs are going unfilled, according to Brownlee, is that manufacturing has the wrong image.
“It’s the traditional four ‘Ds’ that we associate with the industry,” he said. “Manufacturing is seen as dirty, depressing, declining and dangerous. So kids aren’t going into it. But that image is not really in step with the 21st century reality of what manufacturing, and all its high technologies, is today.”
The answer, said Deloitte’s Barrett, is that the industry needs to create a sharp re-branding of its image and then make a more wholehearted effort at planning and forecasting their human resource needs.
“Manufacturers need to do what we consultants like to call strategic workforce planning,” said Barrett. “Markets are changing, technology is changing, and all businesses are being affected. So, in short, nowadays you have to think ahead. You have to figure out who you need in your business now, where are you going to have gaps, where are you going to source them and how you’re going to train them.”
That puts the CLC’s Laliberté in agreement with both Barrett and Brownlee about the real question that should be raised concerning Canadian manufacturing jobs.
“We need to ask ourselves as both businesses and governments about our skills agenda,” says Laliberté. “And I don’t think either has been pro-active enough. It’s understandable since most of our manufacturing base is made up of small to medium-sized producers. As a result, they have a hard time capitalizing and modernizing their equipment. However, there are ways, as our threatened clothing sector has shown, of re-tooling and re-orienting production towards higher quality goods and surviving. So all need not be lost.”
Andy Shaw is a Toronto-based freelance writer.
