The economic update presented on November 25 brings several interesting solutions to the labor shortage that Quebec is currently experiencing, even if the Minister of Finance refuses to name it directly. However, the government seems to be missing out on the urgency of the issue, with solutions that are relevant, but which apply in the medium and long term.
However, the labor shortage, employers live it today. The recovery is firmly underway in several sectors and the situation was already critical before the pandemic hit us. The health crisis has also deprived us of the first solution that must be considered today, considering the emergency we are facing: immigration.
There is no doubt that measures promoting training and re-qualification are good long-term solutions, when they are used properly. Except that they are strictly useless in the short term. On the other hand, measures to retain our “wise men” or to bring retirees back to the job market will not be enough either.
Measures to focus on training more people in critical sectors, such as IT, will only have an impact in a few years. It is true that they have the merit of providing a lasting solution. But we also need something immediate. This was already known and claimed before the pandemic. However, we have fallen behind, first by lowering the immigration thresholds, then by stopping everything for health reasons, however justified they may be. However, there is nothing in the budget right now to try to make up for lost time.
As for the requalification of the workforce, if it is relevant, it can also become pernicious, in addition to taking time, as with training. The ranks should not be stripped either in sectors which are still going through difficult days today, but which have the potential to gain altitude. If, for example, it was necessary to offer hotel and restaurant workers to re-qualify elsewhere, then we would only shift the problem.
If Quebec wants to give itself the means to achieve its ambitions and resolve the labor shortage efficiently and quickly, we must not go through four ways.
We must, on the one hand, increase the immigration thresholds and, on the other hand, make it easier for companies to seek employees abroad. Open the doors, but also let companies choose the candidates they need, so that immigration is targeted.
Another avenue to explore, even if it is not instantaneous: automation, robotization and artificial intelligence. Can technology help us get out of this mess, filling positions workers no longer want? If there are functions that can be fulfilled by computers, by automating tasks or optimizing processes, perhaps we need to think outside the box. The idea is not to replace workers – there are a lack of them! – but to allow us to make them work where technology cannot replace them.
Despite the fact that the situation is of particular concern, there is good news across it. On the one hand, it created a context for workers to improve their lot significantly. On the other hand, we have before us a potential to achieve greater prosperity for Quebeckers. Now we have to give ourselves the means to get there.