Jobs going unfilled in N.S.
Province faces looming labour crisis as population ages, CFIB says

By STEVE PROCTOR Business Editor

Help Wanted signs are being placed in the front windows of a growing number of small businesses.

A national study by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business released Thursday found there were 12,000 jobs sitting vacant for at least four months in Nova Scotia's small- and medium-sized business sectors last year.

"That number represents the entire population of Queens County," said Leanne Hachey, the federation's director of provincial affairs. "That's a lot of people that could potentially be employed and contributing to their communities and our province."

The problem was most pronounced among the smallest businesses - about nine per cent of businesses with fewer than five employees reported a long-term vacancy.

"One vacancy in a business of five can be a major problem," Ms. Hachey said. "Imagine the challenges if a school or a hospital had to operate without 20 per cent of its workforce."

The sectors that had the greatest difficulty filling positions were construction, agriculture and retail.

Paul Pettipas, CEO of the Nova Scotia Home Builders Association, said a worker shortage is a problem the construction industry has been wrestling with increasingly over the past number of years. He said it hasn.t been a huge problem this spring but when it gets busy "it's going to be horrendous."

Mr. Pettipas said that a dozen years ago a house could be built in three months. Now it takes closer to six. He said construction costs will skyrocket as tradespeople shop around for the work they want at a price they can dictate. Efforts are underway with government and education groups to find ways to get more people into the field, but the key, he said, is making a trades career look a lot more attractive to young people than it does right now.

"If you want to work hard, you can do extremely well financially," Mr. Pettipas said.

Lawrence Nason, executive director of the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture, said the labour shortage has been acute in the farming community for a number of years but is now cropping up in all sectors.

"The biggest strawberry operation in the province is in Cape Breton and he can.t get people to pick fruit. The Christmas tree growers are bringing people in from other countries to trim their trees," he said.

There are Nova Scotians interested in doing the seasonal work, but with social programs designed so that any money they make is clawed back against their employment or pension benefits, it doesn't make sense for them to take part, he said.

Ms. Hachey said if Nova Scotia's situation is challenging, the report shows that labour challenges in provinces like Alberta and British Columbia are at a crisis level.

"We're kidding ourselves if we think we can avoid a similar crisis. We have an aging population and an out-migration of youth. Now is the time for us to start preparing."

While the federation recognizes there.s no quick fix for this challenge, she said the group continues to encourage governments to remove roadblocks to a healthy labour market and competitive business climate and focus on building a strong workforce.