MEDICINE HAT, AB — With an unemployment rate of 8.8 per cent in Alberta, you would think people would be scrambling for jobs.
However, in a report by the CBC it said 44,000 jobs in the province are unfilled. Meaning, there are job positions open for hire, but people do not want them.
The report stated that most unfilled jobs lie in the hospitality and food sectors. Jobs that are traditionally known as minimum wage or temporary jobs.
Glen Allan, business instructor at Medicine Hat College =, said these jobs are not being filled because of the hourly wage.
He said people want to find value in the job they are performing and working for a typical entry level job is just not enough.
“It’s always the question of whether or not you value the work or not and whether you feel you can make an adequate living out of it,” he said. “So some of those jobs that have traditionally been part time or temporary, those are the jobs that are probably most difficult to fill.”
The fast food industry in Medicine Hat is struggling the most with filling positions.
However, the accommodations sector said they once were but are not anymore. Elisha Ammann, executive director of the Medicine Hat Accommodation Association, said it’s because employees are trained in several positions, making them feel more valued.
“[Hotels are] reinvesting in their employees training and constantly keeping them trained up so they could cross their skills and be able to use those skills moving forward,” she said.
Even though there are jobs available for Albertans, MP Glen Motz said companies are relying on the Temporary Foreign Worker Program to fill the positions that Canadians just do not seem to want.
“We have Canadian jobs then hopefully we have Canadians that can fill them,” he said. “The reality is, that is not always the case, hence the need to have temporary foreign worker program.”
Motz said most business sectors depend on the foreign worker program. But, as some experts are looking to raise the minimum wage to $15, it could solve the problem.
