For months now, the labor shortage has been making headlines. It will be the same throughout the electoral campaign. The government estimates that there will be 1.4 million jobs to be filled by 20301. Reduction of services, delivery delays, canceled contracts, galloping inflation; it has concrete effects on most sectors of economic activity.
Posted at 1:00 p.m.
According to an estimate by Manufacturiers et Exportateurs du Québec (MEQ), the shortage of personnel has caused manufacturing companies to lose $18 billion2 in two years in addition to digesting a global pandemic. The storm is sadly perfect. However, this labor crisis was largely predictable, since we had known for a long time that the aging of the population, among other things, was going to have significant consequences on the labor market. We knew that the new workers would not be enough to replace those who leave and it has even already begun. There are currently more than one million positions to be filled in Canada, while in Quebec, the number of positions to be filled is close to 225,000.3.
The solution goes through immigration, claim several organizations and interest groups, including the Quebec Employers Council, the Union of Agricultural Producers and the hotel and restaurant sector. It is far from being the miracle solution and let’s be frank, it will not solve all our ills.
Quebec has a structural problem that will have to be alleviated through innovative measures, adapted to our context and inspired by a political will to do otherwise. There are much less expensive solutions than resorting only to immigration.
As is the case in Europe, shops and even supermarkets should be closed on Sundays. This measure would relieve many exhausted workers. Why shouldn’t Sunday be spent outdoors, taking time with family, slowing down in this hectic world? The pandemic has also been a very interesting laboratory to test this innovation. It has not had any effect on the health of our economy, although it has been slowed down.
Then, in Europe once again, many restaurateurs close their doors in the afternoon before resuming service in the evening. After all, it’s rather rare that a rush occurs between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., especially from September to June.
Hours of all services should be reduced while providing the same quality service. For example, do hardware stores, malls, and kitchen and furniture stores really need to be open until 9 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays? I don’t have any figures to back it up, but I doubt that these businesses achieve their daily turnover on weeknights, especially in the fall and winter.
These proposals will upset our economy already heavily affected by galloping inflation, you will tell me. In my opinion, I don’t think so. We will allow people, workers, to immerse themselves in a renewed and more human world of work.
We will put people at the heart of our concerns and their needs. The North American labor market, where performance and numbers trump all other considerations, needs to be reframed. This will lead to a change in individual and collective behavior, but in times of doubt, let us remember for whom and why we are doing this: for our collective well-being. And for immigrants, who should no longer be seen as a simple work force nested in a utilitarian yoke or as a miracle solution to this problem.