Chatham-Kent Workforce has discovered that even though Chatham-Kent’s population has continued to increase slightly, the population is aging and that's likely driving reductions in the local labour force now and into the future.
Chatham-Kent's Director of Community Attraction and Promotion Audrey Ansell presented the 2022 workforce findings to Chatham-Kent council on Monday night, showing labour shortages during record low unemployment at 4.3 per cent in 2022.
Ansell said there is growth within working age groups, but not as much compared to older age groups and not enough to alleviate labour market pressure.
CK Workforce said job vacancies are up 157 per cent between 2015 and 2022 in the region.
Ansell said a gap in the labour pool was identified as top concern for employers and local stakeholders and the impacts have been felt across a broad spectrum of sectors, including turning down new work and expansion opportunities, reducing hours of operations, and hesitation from new employers wanting to locate in Chatham-Kent.
Key findings in the report show that 60.7 per cent of employers had vacant positions that were hard to fill because they didn't receive enough applicants, the applicants lacked the required qualifications or lacked technical skills.
The hardest position to fill were general labour, financial and administrative jobs, and healthcare positions, according to CK Workforce.
The report also showed that 59.6 per cent of employers said employee retention is a concern for their business due to high competition for workers, undesirable working hours, and low paying jobs.
CK Workforce suggests regular increases in wages and salary, training opportunities, and benefits to encourage retention of workers.
Ansell said occupations with the largest negative wage gap in Chatham-Kent when compared to the province include machine operators and related workers in mineral and metal products, processing and manufacturing, creative and performing artists, finance, insurance and related business administrative occupations, creative designers and crafts persons, managers in food service and accommodation, and butchers and bakers.
Ansell told council that 35 per cent of the local workforce is headed towards retirement with over 20,000 workers aged 55-plus in CK. She noted the total workforce demand through 2030 will exceed 18,000.
Council heard that Chatham-Kent is starting to attract young people. CK Workforce said 411 people under the age of 15 moved to the municipality with their families, but young people are not pursuing careers in several important local sectors.
For example, for every 100 workers aged 55-plus, there are only nine transport truck and transit drivers under 30, nine agriculture managers under 30, 30 contractors and supervisors for industrial, electrical and construction trades under 30, 33 social and community service professionals under 30, and 46 secondary school teachers under 30.
CK Workforce officials said Chatham-Kent likely needs to attract more immigrants, noting immigrants in the workforce are up eight per cent between 2016 and 2021, while the non-immigrant workforce declined by nearly 1,000.
Ansell said employers are starting to recruit workers from outside Chatham-Kent to fill vacancies.
"Recruitment wise, 76.5 per cent of employees were hired from within Chatham-Kent. Essentially employees are moving around the community from one employer to another. So, we need to start adding new employees from outside our community and employers are starting to do more of that," said Ansell.
She also noted that Chatham-Kent’s workforce has higher rates of college, apprenticeship, and other trades certificates or diplomas, which aligns with labour market needs, but the community has lower rates of university education.
She also pointed out that a limited supply of affordable and rental housing options, limited public transportation, and a shortage of childcare spaces are all highlighted as key challenges in retaining and attracting employees to the area.
The workforce report showed that CK’s share of people working from home is significantly lower than the rest of Ontario and Canada. Chatham-Kent is at 16.2 per cent, much lower than Ontario's 29.7 per cent and Canada's 24.3 per cent.
Among CK Workforce recommendations to address workforce demand is continuing to encourage older workers to stay in the workforce longer, educating young people on the broad range of career opportunities in the community, better targeting of immigrants, including international students, to meet occupational demand and entrepreneurship opportunities.
CK Workforce said 86.5 per cent of employers hired in the first 10 months of 2022 and 72.9 per cent of employers are planning to hire in the next 12 months with general and skilled labour and administrative roles expected to see the most hires.