On November 25, Finance Minister Eric Girard tabled an economic update that looked more like a pre-election budget. With $ 13 billion in new measures, there was something for everyone. But beyond the distribution of checks, there was also part of the government’s response to the prevailing labor scarcity. Just yesterday, the Prime Minister clarified and supplemented these announcements.
Although perfectible, this plan to fight against sectoral and regional shortages is very encouraging, because it shows that the government has indeed initiated the required paradigm shift. It was high time to abandon the obsession with job creation and instead talk about “training, attracting and retaining workers”.
However, employers’ organizations and employers reacted badly to this update, believing that the government had not done enough to help them solve their workforce problems. And yet, even though it’s still a long way from the lip cup, the foundation is laid and it looks solid enough to start building. Isn’t this an opportunity to grab the ball on the jump to accelerate the turn that has started?
The government’s good moves
With nearly $ 3 billion intended to “attract, train and retain 170,000 workers within five years” in five sectors, namely health and social services, education, early childhood, engineering and technology. information and construction, the government has clearly done its homework on prioritization and is attempting a coup to protect essential services to the population.
With substantial scholarships (up to $ 20,000) and back-to-work bonuses of up to $ 18,000, the government wants to speed up graduation, attract more workers and bring those who left the ship back on board.
It’s tough and credible as a plan. But for the recipe to work, a key ingredient is missing: an in-depth review of the organization and working conditions in the health and education networks.
The government has also announced that the temporary worker program will be relaxed and that it will welcome 70,000 permanent immigrants in 2022 (notably to fill pandemic delays). For many, this is clearly insufficient, but it is still more than at the beginning of the mandate of the Caquist government.
Gaps remain
For the five sectors deemed to be priorities, there is finally hope. For other parts of the economy, it is a hard blow to take. The frustration is understandable. Beyond the encouraging news, much remains to be done, in particular to better support businesses that do not operate in the sectors selected by the government and for the millions of employed Quebecers who will have to upgrade their skills over the course of their careers. .
But beware, the Minister of Labor, Employment and Social Solidarity still has several announcements to make to complete what was disclosed by his colleague from Finance. It will have the difficult task of filling certain gaps left gaping, in particular with regard to continuous training, the training of workers in companies, help to employers in all sectors to better manage their human resources and integrate the most marginalized groups. to the job market. One could think of an improvement in the funding measures for training for workers, a reduction in payroll taxes for employees who are trained during working hours, and exemptions from the contribution to the Régie des rentes du Québec. for workers aged 60 and over, etc. Ideas are not lacking !
The other big challenge falls to the Minister of Economic Development: his interventions will have to target labor and productivity issues to the detriment of job creation.
In this regard, there are still many challenges to overcome since this is a major cultural transformation of the past 40 years. Hence the importance of acting with determination and aplomb by requiring that worker training be linked to obtaining public aid and by systematically including a “labor” component in business aid.
Finally, the Minister of Immigration will also have to be creative in following up on the ambition of his Finance colleague to prioritize foreign students for permanent immigration in order to fill vacant positions while the changes made to the the Quebec experience (PEQ) could have the opposite effect.
Although the word “shortage” seems outlawed for the Minister of Finance, his update has clearly shown that he is ready to invest large sums to alleviate the intense tightening of the job market. It may be incomplete as a solution and we are a little unsatisfied, but it is all the same an outstretched hand that it is better to grasp to move forward.