With a background of labour shortage in Canada, the Global Workmonitoring anylisis by Randstad, published last month, gives an inside view of recruitment around the world. At the country level, the study shows that employers encounter serious problems in recruiting people with profiles that meet their needs.
66% of Canadian employers encounter difficulties in recruiting people likely to suit the jobs they offer and 58% find it difficult to find people with highly qualified profiles. In parallel, 55% of employees across the country expect a shortage of qualified workers in the next three years and 50% think that it will involve very specific jobs.
According to Jan Hein Bax, president of Randstad Canada, the country has experienced a real skills crisis due to demographic changes. According to the analysis by Randstad Canada, most regions and sectors are affected by the lack of qualified workers, including public services, manufacturing industries, automation and energy. In these three industries, the regions of greater Toronto, Montreal and Calgary are the most affected by difficulties in recruiting engineering experts. The most difficult positions to fill are those of designers, mechanical engineers and mechanical designers. And among the ultra-specialized trades lacking candidates in Quebec are: machinists, electromechanics, industrial mechanics, welders and industrial management team leaders.
The solutions which Jan Hein Bax proposes are to develop continuing training and investing in workforces, actions which focus particularly on increasing productivity.
Global trends
Close to 60% of respondents worldwide think that employers are struggling to find the right person when a position becomes vacant. Among the 32 countries scrutinized by Global Workmonitoring, Brazil experienced the most difficulty, with 71% of employers having a hard time finding the talent hoped for. About half the companies in the world have difficulty finding qualified workers. The trend is less in Greece, Italy, Spain and Denmark where only a third are in this situation.
Regarding the future, 47% of respondents expect a shortage of highly qualified workers, especially in Hong Kong (67%), China (65%) and India (65%). The employees that are the least concerned about this topic are those of the Czech Republic (34%), Netherlands (33%) and Denmark (33%).