TORONTO —
The economic effects from the COVID-19 pandemic are squeezing businesses struggling to find workers as ongoing labour shortages continue to stall certain sectors.
Businesses both big and small say they are struggling to find staff and employers have been offering more incentives to attract workers such as higher wages, bonuses, and flexible hours.
However, for those industries trying to recoup losses after months of lockdown, Jasmin Guenette of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business says perks may not be an option.
“Only 40 per cent of small businesses are making normal sales at the moment. So increasing wage is not something that is possible for many businesses,” Guenette previously told CTV News.
New research published last week from the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) reports that 64 per cent of Canadian businesses say labour shortages are limiting their growth.
According to Statistics Canada, there were 731,900 job vacancies in the second quarter of 2021. StatCan said these vacancies can be seen across all provinces, with the largest increases in Quebec, Ontario and B.C.
Overall, Deloitte Canada says that 30.3 per cent of Canadian businesses are reporting labour shortages.
Trevin Stratton, economic advisory leader and partner at Deloitte Canada, told CTVNews.ca the sectors that have been able to shift to a work-from-home model, such as finance, insurance and real estate, have seen “substantial job growth” throughout the pandemic.
“On the other hand, hard-hit sectors that rely on physical presence, like accommodation and food services, transportation and recreation and tourism, still have a way to go before being fully recovered from the pandemic,” Stratton said in an email on Tuesday.
Stratton explained that the relaxation of public health measures in recent months has allowed these sectors to increase their employment substantially, but further gains could be “limited by the unavailability of labour.”
While many industries have struggled to return to regular working capacity amid COVID-19, data shows that these sectors have the largest number of job vacancies in Canada:
HOSPITALITY AND FOOD SERVICE
As one of the sectors hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, Deloitte Canada predicts that the labour shortages facing the hospitality and food service industry won’t be over anytime soon.
“We expect employment in accommodation and food services and information, culture and recreation to continue to experience substantial growth in 2022 but to remain below pre-pandemic levels for some time,” Stratton said.
According to data from Statistics Canada, the number of job vacancies in hospitality and food services increased by 11,600 from the second quarter of 2019 to the second quarter of 2021, reaching an all-time high of 89,100.
StatCan says this increase was “entirely” in the food services and drinking places subsector. The agency added that food counter attendants, kitchen helpers and related support occupations had the second largest increase in vacancies of any occupation over the two years in Canada.
The general manger of Italian restaurant Romeo’s in Victoria, B.C. says there is less incentive for Canadians to go back to waiting tables full-time when they can collect pandemic benefits instead.
“They say they can only work so many hours because they know if they pass a threshold of hours, they can’t collect subsidies on the back end,” Christopher Mavrikos told CTV News in September.
However, the BDC report suggests the phase out of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit and other programs like it won’t fix the labour problem.
While some sectors have lost thousands of jobs during the pandemic, BDC’s chief economist Pierre Cleroux says the pandemic didn’t create Canada’s labour shortage — it just made an existing problem worse. He said the key problem is demographics.
“Today, 16 per cent of Canadians are over 65. In the next five years, many Canadians are going to retire,” Cleroux said. “And not a lot of young people are entering the job market.”
HEALTH CARE
While the pandemic has increased demand for health services, many nurses report having left the profession after the stress of COVID-19 made their jobs more difficult and less safe, creating a shortage of health-care workers in certain regions and even forcing rural areas to temporarily close hospital units.
According to Statistics Canada, health care and social assistance currently have the largest need for labour of any sector in the country.
StatCan says job vacancies in this sector increased by 40,800 from the second quarter of 2019 to the second quarter of 2021. The agency said the sector currently represents one in seven job vacancies in Canada.
Job vacancies for registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses had the largest increase of all health-care occupations since 2019, according to StatCan. The agency notes that nearly half of vacancies for this occupation have been open for 90 days or more.
While there aren’t yet firm numbers, there are reports that the pandemic has increased burnout among highly-trained nurses, causing them to leave the profession at an alarming rate. Others have chosen to retire early due to stress.
Health advocates say keeping the skilled nurses with better staffing and more mental health supports could help address the problem, as well as putting an end to wage cuts and caps in the profession with campaigns underway in Ontario and Alberta against efforts to limit wage increases in the public sector.
The agency says there were 65,900 manufacturing job vacancies in the second quarter of 2021, the highest number of vacancies for the sector since 2015. The increase was spread across several subsectors, with the largest gains in food manufacturing, such as meatpacking, and wood product manufacturing, according to StatCan.
The Canadian Meat Council — which represents Canada’s federally-registered meat packers and processing plants — reported in September that there are more than 4,000 empty butcher stations at meat production facilities countrywide, working out to an average job vacancy rate of more than 10 per cent.
Canadian meat packers say the shortage is in part due to the rules governing how many temporary foreign workers meat processing employers can employ at any one time and are lobbying the federal government to increase the current cap of 10 to 20 per cent, depending on the facility, to 30 per cent.
The construction industry has also reported a record number of job vacancies, especially in masonry, painting and electrical work.
According to StatCan, vacancies in construction increased to 62,600 in the second quarter of 2021, the highest number since 2015. Carpenters, construction trade helpers and labourers also accounted for a large portion of the rise in job vacancies, the agency said.
RETAIL TRADE
Job vacancies in retail trade increased to 84,300 in the second quarter of 2021, according to StatCan, with the largest gains in food and beverage stores, building material supply dealers and garden equipment shops.
By occupation, the agency said retail salespersons, store shelf stockers, clerks and order filers were among the top 10 occupations with the largest increase in vacancies from the second quarter of 2019 to the second quarter of 2021.
With ‘help wanted’ signs in many storefronts across the country, Charles Kay, owner of Montreal furniture store Prunelle, says the responsibility falls to the employer.
“Some employers are getting a little bit burnt out because there just isn’t… enough hand to get the job done,” he told CTV News.
TRUCKING
Trucking HR Canada, a national, non-profit organization working to address workforce issues in the trucking and logistics sector, reports that there was an average of 18,000 truck driver vacancies in the second quarter of 2021.
According to its latest report, the trucking industry had a vacancy rate of five per cent at the end of 2020. In comparison, the vacancy rate across all occupations in Canada was 2.7 per cent.
The organization says the impacts of COVID-19, lack of foreign workers and poor working conditions have contributed to the increase in job vacancies. As well, Trucking HR Canada says these factors have contributed to and increase in older truckers retiring with not enough new drivers to replace them.
Trucking HR Canada noted that the trucker shortage will continue to put “pressure and stress on Canada’s economic recovery” if not quickly addressed.
“Trucking and logistics supports key economic sectors from retail/wholesale trade to construction, agriculture, forestry and mining, and more,” the organization wrote in its report. “One fact remains: the longer it takes to better address driver shortages – the longer it will take for full economic recovery.”
With files from The Canadian Press and CTV National News’ Vanessa Lee
DETROIT (AP) — Democratic U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin has won Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat, giving Democrats a bittersweet victory in a swing state that also backed Republican President-elect Donald Trump in his successful bid to return to the White House.
Slotkin, a third-term representative, defeated former Republican congressman Mike Rogers. Democrats have held both Senate seats in Michigan for decades, but this year were left without retiring incumbent Sen. Debbie Stabenow.
Michigan’s was among a handful of Senate races Democrats struggled to defend. They lost their U.S. Senate majority despite Slotkin’s narrow win.
The race was incredibly close. Just minutes before it was called for Slotkin, she addressed supporters in Detroit, acknowledging that many voters may have cast their ballots for her while also supporting Trump, who won the state’s electoral votes over Democrat Kamala Harris.
“It’s my responsibility to get things done for Michiganders. No matter who’s in office, just as I did in President Trump’s first term,” said Slotkin. “I’m a problem solver and I will work with anyone who is actually here to work.”
Slotkin’s win provides some solace for Democrats in the state, many of whom entered Election Day with high confidence following sweeping victories in the 2022 midterms. Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer still controls the executive branch and Democrats held onto the Senate, but their state House majority was in peril.
And Republicans also captured a mid-Michigan seat vacated by Slotkin, considered one of the most competitive races in the country.
Slotkin, a former CIA analyst and third-term representative, launched her Senate campaign shortly after Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow announced her retirement in early 2023. With a largely uncontested primary, Slotkin built a significant fundraising advantage and poured it into advertising. Her high-profile supporters included former President Barack Obama and Stabenow, who helped her on the campaign trail.
On the Republican side, Rogers faced multiple challengers for the party’s nomination, including former Reps. Justin Amash and Peter Meijer, the latter of whom withdrew before the Aug. 6 primary. Rogers served in the U.S. House from 2001 to 2015 and chaired the House Intelligence Committee.
Trump won Michigan in 2016 by just over 10,000 votes, marking the first time a Republican presidential candidate had secured the state in nearly three decades. This time, he expanded that margin to about 80,000 votes.
Slotkin and other Michigan Democrats focused much of their campaigns on reproductive rights, arguing that Republican opponents would back a national abortion ban, although Rogers said he wouldn’t. How effectively the issue motivated voting in a state where reproductive rights were enshrined in the constitution by Michigan voters in 2022 remained to be seen on Election Day.
About 4 in 10 Michigan voters said the economy and jobs is the top issue facing the country, according to AP VoteCast, a sweeping survey of more than 110,000 voters nationally, including about 3,700 voters in Michigan. About 2 in 10 Michigan voters said immigration is the most pressing issue, and roughly 1 in 10 named abortion.
Slotkin used her funding advantage to establish her narrative early, aiming to connect both with her base and disillusioned Republicans.
“For the Republicans who feel like their party has left them over the last few years, you will always have an open door in my office,” Slotkin said during their only debate.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fernando Valenzuela was remembered for “having the heart of a lion” throughout his stellar pitching career with the Los Angeles Dodgers during a funeral highlighting his Catholic faith on Wednesday.
Archbishop José Gomez sprinkled holy water on Valenzuela’s casket and later waved incense over it. Nearby a portrait of a smiling Valenzuela rested against the altar.
“His death came too soon,” the Rev. James Anguiano said in his sermon.
The public Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles included fans wearing Dodgers gear, some in Valenzuela’s No. 34 jersey. Many held up cell phones to record moments.
Valenzuela died on Oct. 22 at age 63, three days before the Dodgers began their eventual run to the franchise’s eighth World Series championship, beating the New York Yankees in five games last week. No cause of death was given.
“I really think Fernando hoped to witness the Dodgers win the World Series this year but you know he did witness the Dodgers as champions,” Anguiano said. “Fernando had a front-row seat, perfect from heaven.”
“I know like I’m standing here that Fernando is up there, he’s letting us know he’s doing well and he’s celebrating along with the Dodgers in their World Series championship,” said Mike Scioscia, who caught Valenzuela in many of his starts in 1981, including a five-hit shutout on Opening Day.
The Dodgers went on to win the World Series that year, in six games against the Yankees. The Mexican-born Valenzuela is the only player to earn the NL Cy Young Award and Rookie of the Year honors in the same season.
Scioscia, at times speaking in Spanish, eulogized Valenzuela for having “the heart of a lion.”
“He was 20-years-old in 1981 when he was going through Fernandomania and he just kept perspective the whole way,” Scioscia said. “Fernando never got too big for his britches. He was always well-grounded, he knew that he had a talent and he wanted to go out there and do it every time. He always felt he was the best in the world but he never told anybody about it.”
Fernando Valenzuela Jr. gave a tearful eulogy of his papá in Spanish, pausing to wipe his face with a white cloth. Valenzuela’s wife, Linda, and other children Ricardo, Linda and Maria sat in the front row, along with his grandchildren.
“Fernando no longer has to look up nor does he have to look down,” Anguiano said, referring to Valenzuela’s skyward glance during his unusual delivery. “Fernando is alive and present in our hearts and in our lives.”
The nine-member Mariachi Sol de Mexico played and sang throughout the service. It concluded with eight pallbearers ushering his casket covered in white roses to a waiting hearse.
Former Dodgers Orel Hershiser, Ron Cey, Reggie Smith, Jerry Reuss, Manny Mota, Justin Turner, Rick Sutcliffe, Nomar Garciaparra and Jesse Orosco were among the mourners. They were joined by former Dodgers owner Peter O’Malley, current president and CEO Stan Kasten, team COO Bob Wolfe, team general counsel Sam Fernandez and actor Edward James Olmos.
Valenzuela’s colleagues on the team’s Spanish-language broadcasts, Jaime Jarrín who retired in 2022 and, José Mota, were there.
Jim Montgomery turned to his right and trudged down the tunnel towards the visitors locker room at Scotiabank Arena.
The Bruins head coach and his players moved past the windows of the rink’s exclusive new social club — a venue that allows select fans a brief glimpse into an NHL team’s journey.
Boston’s ride has been largely unfamiliar and bumpy so far this season.
A franchise used to fast starts to the schedule, the Bruins sit below .500 at 6-7-1 on the heels of Tuesday’s 4-0 shutout and that hands of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Boston didn’t lose a seventh game in regulation in 2022-23 until Jan. 29 on the way to winning the Presidents’ Trophy. Last season, the Bruins waited until Dec. 23 for their seventh regulation defeat.
Alarm bells aren’t sounding. The mood, however, is decidedly different.
“It’s unique right now,” Boston defenceman Brandon Carlo said. “Our group as a whole is still very encouraged and positive for the most part. I don’t think we want to get too far down on ourselves this early in the year.”
It’s also not hard to see where vast improvements are needed.
While the Bruins have been satisfied with their play at five-on-five of late, special teams remain a major issue.
Boston’s power play tumbled to 29th overall heading into Wednesday night’s action following an 0-for-6 performance in Toronto, while its penalty kill dropped to 20th after the Leafs connected on three of seven chances.
The Bruins, to make matters worse, are by far the most penalized roster in the league with 79 infractions across their 14 games — 12 more than the second-place Los Angeles Kings.
Montgomery’s special teams have been, at minimum, in the top half of the league in his two previous seasons in charge since taking over from Bruce Cassidy. Boston’s penalty kill ranked first in 2022-23 and seventh in 2023-24, while the power play was 14th and 12th, respectively.
“Our group’s fine,” Montgomery said. “We feel we’re getting better. Our habits and details are growing.”
The Bruins, who lost 8-2 in Carolina to the Hurricanes last Thursday, have experienced significant roster turnover in recent years — Patrice Bergeron’s retirement before last season was the biggest change — but the likes of captain Brad Marchand and sniper David Pastrnak remain focal points.
Even those veterans have had tough starts.
Marchand, whose contract situation remains unresolved with unrestricted free agency looming next summer, was chewed out by Montgomery last month when a giveaway led to a goal. Pastrnak was then benched for the third period of Sunday’s 2-0 victory over the Seattle Kraken after a similar turnover at an inopportune time.
Carlo said the leadership group’s ability to handle tough moments, even personal ones, trickles down the lineup when the temperature is turned up.
“I’m trying to lead by example in that way and not come to the rink with a frown on my face,” said the blueliner in his ninth NHL season. “It’s hard when it’s not as fun coming into the rink and having to look over video, but I feel like we’re learning step by step.
“We’re very blessed to play in this league and do what we do. Might as well enjoy it.”
The Bruins’ path the last two seasons didn’t end in success.
They blew a 3-1 series lead and were upset in the first round of the playoffs by the Florida Panthers in 2023. The same club bested Boston again last spring in the second round on the way to winning the Stanley Cup.
“We’ve always started off really well, top of the league,” Bruins forward Trent Frederic said. “It hasn’t worked out … maybe this is a different little route we’ll take. Not how you draw it up.
“But it’s not bad to face adversity.”
WHO’S WATCHING?
The Winnipeg Jets improved to an NHL-best 12-1-0 with Tuesday’s 3-0 victory over the Utah Hockey Club, but only 12,932 fans were in attendance at the 15,325-seat Canada Life Centre.
That followed a gathering of 12,912 for Sunday’s 7-4 triumph over the Tampa Bay Lightning at the league’s smallest arena.
The Jets have topped 15,000 tickets sold just once this season when 15,225 people were in the building for an Oct. 28 visit by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
PETTEY’S PROBLEM
Vancouver Canucks centre Elias Pettersson signed an eight-year, US$92.8-million contract extension in March.
Things have not gone according to plan since pen hit paper.
Despite finding the scoresheet Tuesday for just the fifth time this season, the 25-year-old has only eight goals and 14 assists for 22 points in 44 combined regular-season and playoff games since agreeing to his new deal.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
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Joshua Clipperton’s weekly NHL notebook is published every Wednesday.
