Is there a job in Canada?

] The country's unemployment rate is currently 5.6%, its lowest level since 1976 (Photo: Christopher Furlong / Getty Images)

Magali Dion is having great difficulty hiring new employees for Cerpajo, a soybean-producing farm, Corn and Vegetables in St. Liboire, in the United States. East of Canada. "We have to find five other workers to function normally," she lamented in El País.

Magali's situation is far from unique: while half of the world is working, To reduce their unemployment rate, the situation in Canada is very different.

The country's unemployment rate is now at 5 , 6%, its lowest level since 1976. And last year, 219,000 positions were created, 1.2% more than in the previous 12 months

Despite good indicators, Canada is faced with a problem: he can not cope with the growing demand for workers in certain sectors of his economy.

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Job vacancies in the British Columbia region or food processing plants in the state of New Brunswick have become constant. It is also common to meet truck drivers in Manitoba, electrical operators in Saskatchewan, and laborers working on plantations in Quebec.

Canada needs more workers to feed a healthy economy, which has accumulated for eight consecutive years. expansion and should close 2018 with a growth of more than 2%

The problems of finding workers to fill vacancies have become a real headache, especially for small and medium-sized entrepreneurs

The week The latest report from the Federation of Independent Businesses of Canada presented figures that illustrate a labor shortage that continues to grow. In the last four months, about 430,000 jobs in small and medium-sized enterprises have not been filled due to lack of candidates.

In one year, unfilled vacancies increased from 2.9% to 3.3%, according to the data. of the federation, which brings together more than 110 thousand entrepreneurs.

According to

nearly four out of ten small and medium-sized Canadian businesses face difficulties in hiring the workers they need. The study also reveals the sectors most affected by the lack of manpower: services, construction, agriculture and hydrocarbons. with a recent report from the Business Development Bank of Canada

"People are retiring and we can not replace their skills," said Jocelyn Bamford, vice president of Automatic Coating, an Ontario coating company. pipelines. .

According to official figures, the average hourly wage for available positions in Canada is about 21 Canadian dollars ($ 61). Quebec is one of the states that suffers the most from the lack of manpower.

Aging Population
The bursting of the economy and the aging of the population are at the root of this growing shortage of manpower. According to El País, solutions offered by labor market experts include improved wages and, most importantly, the encouragement of immigration.

In November 2017, the Justin Trudeau government announced a three-year plan to increase the inflow of foreign workers: Canada is forecast to welcome more than 300,000 people this year. In 2019, there will be 330,000 and in 2020, 340,000. At the same time, several programs to attract temporary workers are maintained. In 2017, the country issued 286,000 visas of this type.