Rick Robinson, Chair of the School of Business & Continuing Studies at Medicine Hat College. (Photo Courtesy Gates Guarin)

By Gates Guarin

Inflation, aging population contributing to labour market shortage

Aug 19, 2022 | 12:22 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – It’s almost common to see an abundance of businesses on the lookout for new hires. The current labour market has been hit hard by several factors which has led to a workforce shortage, meaning employees who are willing to enter the labour market are in high demand and short supply.

Rick Robinson, chair of the School of Business and Continuing Studies at Medicine Hat College, says inflation is playing the largest role.

“Keeping up with inflation rates, you have to pay your employees more. But of course, your other costs are going up and so for small businesses it’s much more difficult to remain competitive to price-sensitive consumers and to pay employees what they’re looking for when they come into the job market,” Robinson says.

He adds an aging population is a key factor as well.

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“Statistics in 2016 say that 25 per cent of our region was 55 years or older, which means that they’re going to be reaching retirement age in the next 10 years,” Robinson says. “It also shows that for each hundred people over the age of 55, we only have 82 people under the age of 20, which means we’re not able to really replace the workforce as they retire.”

The Medicine Hat Chamber of Commerce has been keeping a close eye on labour market trends here in the city.

“We are hearing on a regular basis from employers the challenge that they’re having in recruiting talent,” says Lisa Kowalchuk, executive director of the Chamber of Commerce.

Kowalchuk adds businesses are having to get creative in order to bring in more labour.

“It’s something that we’re going to have to look at as a community in terms of strategies that we can implement to address some of those challenges, and to better understand what employers need for supports,” Kowalchuk says.

One such industry which has employed a working strategy is construction.

The Medicine Hat Construction Association has launched a labour-sharing pilot program which was borne out of the current shortage industries are experiencing, and John Digman, executive director of the association, says the program allows workers to remain working and retain their benefits.

“It’s all aimed around keeping and retaining workers within the local region.” Digman says.

Digman hopes to be able to share the results of the project across different industries in order to help curb shortages.

“We are hopeful that there are other industries that are maybe project-based that could also run schemes such as this.”

Robinson adds small businesses may have an advantage in pursuing new talent.

“The kinds of things small businesses can offer are a better working environment,” Robinson says. “With the COVID pandemic, what we saw was what we call the great resignation, which was all of these people leaving the workforce worldwide.”