Over half of employers say inflation will be hot topic in wage discussions
A combination of inflationary pressures, labour challenges and supply chain issues has impacted businesses in a number of different ways, according to Statistics Canada.
Businesses continued to expect to face a variety of obstacles over the next three months related to rising costs, hiring and recruitment, as well as those related to supply chains.
Recruiting skilled employees is expected to be an obstacle for nearly two-fifths (36.9 per cent) of all employers, led by those in construction (49.5 per cent), manufacturing (47.4 per cent), and accommodation and food services (46.3 per cent).
In addition, labour shortages are expected to be an obstacle for over one-third (35 per cent) of businesses, while retaining skilled employees is expected to be an obstacle for over one-quarter (27.6 per cent), found the Canadian Survey on Business Conditions conducted in April and May.
Labour shortage impacts
For employers that expected to have labour-related obstacles (shortage of labour force, recruiting skilled employees or retaining skilled employees) over the next three months, over half (54.6 per cent) expected these obstacles to lead to management working increased hours, while nearly half (47.3 per cent) expected existing staff to work increased hours as a result.
Other impacts? Limitation on the businesses' growth (39.4 per cent), hiring less-suitable candidates (37.4 per cent), and delays in providing orders to customers (28.5 per cent).
In terms of vacant positions, 8.8 per cent of businesses expected to have more job vacancies over the next three months. However, 24.6 per cent of businesses in accommodation and food services expected to have more vacant positions, nearly triple the proportion of all businesses.
One in five workers globally are likely to switch to a new employer in the next 12 months, according to a report from PwC. This follows a report that noted that voluntary turnover rates in the United States have increased three percentage points (from 18 per cent to 21 per cent) since before the pandemic.
Wages and inflation
In the context of a tightening labour market, average hourly wages for employees rose 3.3 per cent ($0.99) on a year-over-year basis in April, says Ottawa, similar to the growth seen on a year-over-year basis in March (3.4 per cent).
Meanwhile, in April, the CPI was up 6.8 per cent on a year-over-year basis. Over half of businesses (55.2 per cent) expected inflation to be a bigger issue when discussing wage increases with employees over the next 12 months, with over three-quarters (76.1 per cent) of businesses in accommodation and food services and seven in 10 (70.9 per cent) businesses in manufacturing expecting the same.
For employers operating in Canada’s smallest province, P.E.I., pay ranges or expected pay will have to be made public in job ads beginning June 1.
