Report Targets B.C.’s Labour Market Challenges

The GVBOT report therefore recommends establishing a roundtable made up of industry, government and post-secondary education representatives to focus on the labour market’s future and aligning research funding with business needs.

It also wants the province’s public school system and post-secondary institutions to develop a stronger bond with B.C.’s labour market and a greater appreciation of its needs by employing such initiatives as spearheading high school programs in coding, cybersecurity, nursing and mass timber.

The report added that B.C. Labour Market Outlook data needs to be used to design skills and training policies and programs.

Government action is also needed to address other issues negatively affecting the province’s workforce and business viability.

For example, B.C.’s construction industry faces one of the province’s tightest labour shortages.

According to the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association (ICBA), four out of five B.C. construction companies say they don’t have enough workers; 77 per cent say that labour shortage will be their company’s biggest challenge in 2023.

ICBA President Chris Gardner said that even though construction companies are increasing pay and benefits and incorporating innovative technologies in their operations, they still cannot fill job vacancies.

The ICBA’s recently released annual wage and benefits survey shows that ICBA members expect the average wage for construction trades – excluding benefits, bonuses and overtime – to increase six per cent this year.

But Gardner said that labour is only one of many issues needing action from the provincial government.

He pointed to supply chain bottlenecks, bureaucratic inertia and a rapidly rising red-tape burden as factors contributing to a record level of construction industry frustration with government.

“Rules, regulations, red tape – and the seeming inability to get projects approved and permitted quickly – are impacting affordability and driving a record-level of frustration with government,” Gardner said in a press release accompanying the release of the ICBA’s wage and benefits survey. “The World Bank reports that Canada ranks 64th in the world in how long it takes to get a construction project approved and permitted – a reality that frustrates the construction industry every day and is a real threat to investment in B.C. and Canada.”

The economic consequences of government and industry failing to act quickly and decisively to address B.C.’s skills and labour challenges are significant.

“We are already starting to see that we have an acute labour shortage, which impacts the broader economy,” said Anderson. “We don’t have enough servers in restaurants, for example; we don’t have enough people in high skilled jobs in some cases; and so, it really is a trickle down effect that would impact many if not all businesses and individuals as well. So, we have to address this so that we remain competitive globally. We know it is a global competition for talent now … because there is such a change in the way we work … and our prosperity is dependent upon us solving this labour challenge together.”