by Ken Georgetti and Perrin Beatty
April 20, 2006

The new federal government has brought to Parliament a more focused agenda. For the short term, that agenda does not say much about the challenges posed by an aging workforce, which is already affecting Canada’s prosperity. The economic fallout from an aging workforce and declining birth rate may be a slow train in motion, but it has left the station.

Statistics Canada estimates the population aged 50 to 64 years will increase by 27 per cent between 2006 and 2021. The character of Canada’s workforce is changing, with consequences already evident in some sectors and regions of the country.

In surveys conducted by the Workplace Partners Panel – a collaborative project led by business and labour, concern with skill shortages is rising in prominence. In British Columbia, 62% of business managers found the shortage of skilled labour to be a serious problem, making this their No. 1 concern. In Atlantic Canada the scarcity of high wage employment opportunities fuels the out migration of young workers, which in turn, threatens the region’s economic growth.

Of course, the strains on Canada’s labour market are not limited to an aging workforce. The pressures of global competition are driving up the skill requirements for many occupations. The belief that a person could enter the labour forcefully-equipped for a life long career has been laid to rest. Our education and training system needs to adjust. Lifelong learning applies to everyone regardless of the formal education platform from which one enters the workforce.

Immigration has become an increasingly important source for Canada’s labour market growth. Sadly, we are seeing a disturbing trend, as skilled immigrants arrive in Canada to find unexpected and unwarranted barriers to employment. Many of these immigrants are packing their bags and leaving. Our efforts to integrate new Canadians into our workforce and community are falling short

We all know that business and labour often find themselves pushing and pulling in opposite directions. However, the need and urgency to address Canada’s labour market challenges is proving to be a shared concern.

Over the past two years, the Canadian Labour Congress and Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters have actively consulted their members on these important matters. Both organizations agree that the most promising strategy must be built on the active participation of all workplace partners.

Working together, business and labour have launched the Workplace Partners Panel. Using an inclusive and regional approach, we are exploring the impact of the aging workforce on our economy’s skills needs. Task forces that have begun this spring, in Atlantic Canada and Saskatchewan, will host stakeholder meetings that involve educators, community leaders and representatives from all three levels of government.

In the 2005 federal budget, the previous government launched the Workplace Skills Strategy, a program aimed at addressing some of the problems faced by Canada’s labour market. It was not a high profile political initiative but it was an acknowledgement that the federal government can play a supporting role in the human resource challenges facing Canada. Though we do not yet know the intentions of our new government on this issue, we hope that it retains a focus on workforce training and education.

While federal and provincial governments have important roles to play in making the necessary investments in Canada’s labour market, these issues are most alive at the workplace. The first place to look for many of the solutions should be in Canadian workplaces. We need a more collaborative approach to our workplace skills challenges – one that coordinates the ideas and efforts of government with business and labour.

Our pitch to Canada’s newly minted Parliament is simple: with an aging workforce and a declining birth rate, we need to do a better job with fewer people. To meet this challenge, we’re going to need a more collaborative and constructive approach. While business and labour must find new and more effective ways to engage each other on these issues, the best solutions require an active and responsive role by both the provincial and federal governments.

Perrin Beatty, Co-chair of the Workplace Partners Panel, the Canadian Labour and Business Centre and CEO of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters
Ken Georgetti, Co-chair of the Workplace Partners Panel, the Canadian Labour and Business Centre and President of the Canadian Labour Congress