Over the past few weeks, many of you have responded to our invitation by sending your questions on the economy, finances, markets, etc. All week long, our journalists try to answer them with the help of experts.
I would like to know the reasons why the gap is so big between the current labor shortage and the situation before COVID-19. I cannot understand where the workers who were at work before the pandemic have gone. Is it due to the creation of jobs that did not exist a year ago? Have a lot of people hung up their aprons? We see a boom in the construction of houses, apartment buildings, etc. One would think that these new constructions are welcoming new workers, but it seems that from one week to the next, we are breaking records for the shortage of manpower. Why ?
Jean-Luc Blais
To answer this question, we surveyed Céline Morellon, CRHA, director of human resources and organizational transformation at the Société du parc Jean-Drapeau and president of Leaders of value.
“I love this question! It is not something simple, otherwise we would have already found the solution, an easy political strategy. The shortage is not linked to just one phenomenon.
“First of all, I often say that there is no shortage of labor, because there are many people without jobs. But it’s because we don’t have the right people to fill the positions. In addition, the red lights were already on before the pandemic. Around 2015 and 2016, we had statistics saying that we were heading towards a wall, particularly because of the aging of the population. In the health sector, for example, strategies have been put in place to take advantage of retirements by telling ourselves that innovation would make it possible to compensate for departures. But we did not foresee the pandemic …
PHOTO PROVIDED BY CÉLINE MORELLON
Céline Morellon, Director of Human Resources and Organizational Transformation at the Société du parc Jean-Drapeau.
“There has also been a change in immigration strategy. As such, we have had a Quebec more centered on itself for several years. We are looking for qualified immigrants. Premier Legault even said it: he wants people who earn more than $ 55,000. But a quarter of the vacancies are low income. I am thinking of accommodation and catering. There is therefore a demographic deficit, a lack of immigrants and a mismatch with respect to vacancies and job seekers.
There has also been a displacement of people in catering and accommodation, for example, who are trained to convert to another profession. These people want to find jobs that won’t take a beating in the event of a pandemic.
Celine Morellon
“In terms of the desired innovation, this is a trump card for Quebec. The problem is that 90% of companies are SMEs with few resources. And we did not push in this direction so that they can convert to robotization.
“Finally, among high-income professionals, such as engineers and scientists, changing the skills desired when hiring also creates a problem. Hiring today is based on emotional criteria, the ability to work in a team, not just technical skills. However, this is not what we learn at school!
“For the second part of your question, the building boom first means an ability to buy a house. And it’s the low interest rates that explain this, not the fact that there would be more people to house. ”