It may not be obvious to a region familiar with high unemployment rates, but the Maritimes is experiencing a labour shortage. In this presentation to the Standing Committee on Human Resources, AIMS Senior Policy Analyst Stephen Kymlicka says the problem isn’t going to get better without a little help.
He said immigration may provide a shortterm softening of the blow, but it won’t be enough. He explained:
“We are in competition for quality immigrants and guest workers. We need to streamline the process for them and recognize their qualifications. For that matter, we need to recognize our own qualifications and remove barriers to worker mobility. We need to identify the labour gaps and promote those fields aggressively be they skilled, semi-skilled or non-skilled. Lastly we have to stop paying for regional schemes which are disincentives to resolving these pressing problems. All of these barriers directly hurt our productivity, and in this age of competing global supply chains, productivity is king. We need to leverage technology to expand our worker force and to make do with fewer workers.”
The complete text can be found here.