Sarnia-Lambton restaurants are among a number of businesses that are having a tough time finding workers, according to the head of the local workforce development board.
SLWDB Executive Director Laura Greaves said with the lockdowns ending, chefs, cooks and food counter attendants are a hot commodity.
Greaves said the Work In Sarnia-Lambton Job Board, which pulls positions from 23 other job boards, is filled with "Help Wanted" posts from local eateries.
"So when I look at these jobs posted on our board, I see that they are posted for a lot longer than other jobs. Our average job posting length is maybe 16 or 17 days... chef and cook positions are sitting up there for 29-plus days. So these are positions that I can tell employers are really struggling to fill right now."
Greaves said there are a lot of sales and service jobs up there as well, but they tend to be up there for a shorter period.
Greaves added that she does not think there is a labour shortage locally, at least not yet, based on unemployment statistics that came out in May.
"Our unemployment rate was 7.7 per cent, or about 5,000 people were unemployed at that time. So, when businesses say that they are really struggling to find people, it's not that there aren't people out there to work, it's that they're not currently looking for work, or they certainly haven't found work yet."
Greaves said there are a number of factors as to why someone would, or would not choose to look for work right now, including the availability of childcare and homecare.
She said when families can't find people to come in and support them, it makes it very difficult for others to go out and work outside of the home.
"When parents are thinking about joining the workforce again, looking for jobs, do they have someone to watch their kids? Or likewise, maybe they don't have children to watch, but they have other family members to watch. So to note, always at the top of our job board is home support workers."
Greaves is expecting to see the unemployment numbers go down in the coming months.
"I think it will be interesting to see what happens in September as the last of the benefits, I think, will end -- obviously, we'll have to see how that goes and keep our fingers crossed that there's no more lockdowns. But if that is the case, then ideally in September, we would see the unemployment rate drop."
Greaves said if we see the number of job postings continue to go up and the unemployment rate stay high, that signals that employers are not able to find people with the right skills.
"I think that's certainly more worrisome and something we're going to have to examine more closely," she said. "I think it's been a struggle for employers to find people to fill these positions but I see it improving all of the time. And I hear it anecdotally from employers too, you know, 'last month was really difficult but I have actually now hired people and things are getting better,' so that's good to hear."
During a provincial and federal funding announcement in Sarnia Tuesday, Ontario Labour Minister and Lambton Kent Middlesex MPP Monte McNaughton noted that there are currently 8,230 jobs waiting to be filled in the Sarnia-Windsor region.
-With files from Melanie Irwin