The help wanted sign in BC continues to dangle as over 69,000 job vacancies are currently unfilled according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
The rate is 3.9% and is at its highest rating since 2007.
This is the downside of a strong economy and places like the north are often left struggling.
“The north is one of those areas where it’s been very difficult for business owners to find enough people to work inside their business, those jobs often go unfilled and that means those businesses are left scrambling or perhaps they are putting growth plans on hold as we see a long list of impacts,” says Richard Truscott, CFIB BC Vice-President.
The situation won’t get any easier as workers contemplate their next move as the economies in Alberta and Saskatchewan continue to improve.
“There is always this dilemma between workers finding an opportunity and work inside BC or be lured into Alberta and there’s lots of opportunities and the province to the east of us has its economy growing and that means many workers, many individuals, and many employers will be thinking about greener pastures.”
Small businesses in the larger provinces including Quebec and Ontario are having the same problem as most people have their sights set on working in government or for big business.
“They don’t think about working in a small business and there’s obviously a lot of vacancies, a lot of opportunities in a lot of small and medium-sized businesses and the fact that the BC numbers are so high is really an indication of a strong economy but also a misalignment between the people looking for work and the jobs that are available,” adds Truscott.
He adds the province’s nation-leading unemployment rate of 4.7% is misleading because a lot of people have given up looking for work and several regions in BC currently have a higher jobless rate than the provincial average.
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