Recruiting and retaining young workers is proving to be a challenge in the Thompson-Okanagan region states a new report.
Conducted by the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC), the report specifies that region’s goods sector lost 5,200 jobs in 2018.
The agriculture industry endured the largest decline, which saw the loss of 3,300 workers.
Manufacturing lost 2,000 jobs, while construction lost another 1,000 jobs.
The forestry, fishing, mining, and oil and gas industry added a loss of 200 jobs.
“Our service sector added a total of 700 jobs. But this increase is somewhat deceiving, as only the trade, education, and health care and social assistance industries reported job gains,” said Karen Christiansen, FCPA, FCA, partner at MNP LLP in Kelowna.
"In fact, more telling are the 12,200 jobs that were lost in the other service industries. While this could be attributed to slowing housing activity and moderating consumer demand, the bigger issue is recruitment challenges. On average, there were over 11,000 job vacancies in each quarter of 2018, up 14.4% from 2017.”
Contesting the reported loss of jobs in the Thompson-Okanagan is the region’s unemployment rate, which fell by one percentage point to 6.1%.
However, according to the report, the drop in unemployment is the result of losing of 7,700 workers in the region’s overall labour force and due to there actually being more workers employed.
Furthermore, of the 7,700 workers leaving, almost 42% were workers between the ages 19 to 24.
“Given the recruitment challenges we are experiencing, it is concerning to see the departure of 3,200 young workers. Our region’s economy is service-oriented, and many of the lower-level jobs are filled by young workers. As demand continues to grow from service industries, we will need to seek innovative ways to source and recruit talent,” noted Christiansen.
To read the full report, click here.
