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Oakville small businesses facing a hiring crisis

Restaurants, retailers and other sectors of the economy are reporting a lack of workers coming out of the pandemic.
Downtown Oakville
Downtown Oakville

Following COVID’s third wave, a rebound in the Canadian economy was anticipated with eagerness by business owners and workers, but it’s bringing its own challenges. A substantial labour shortage is now affecting multiple sectors - not just in Oakville, but across the country.

Statistics Canada numbers for the first fiscal quarter of 2021 show an increase of thousands of job vacancies in the national economy. Two of Oakville’s biggest job-creating industries are being hit hard by the labour shortage.

Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada

Businesses in retail, manufacturing and accommodation and food services are reporting an unprecedented rise in understaffing. This could be bad news for many Oakville businesses already reeling from a year and a half of pandemic-related hardships.

"Skilled labour shortages are something we’ve faced before COVID," said Drew Redden, President and CEO of the Oakville Chamber of Commerce. "COVID has certainly amplified that and what our business community is facing."

Drew Redden | Drew Redden - Oakville Chamber of Commerce
Drew Redden | Drew Redden - Oakville Chamber of Commerce

The long-term impact of COVID-19

An assistant economics professor at King’s University College in London, Ontario, Jason Dean, said there are likely multiple things at play causing a labour shortage.

"First of all, [there's] the CERB payments, which don’t end until the end of October. Those could have increased workers' reservation wages. Especially when you’re thinking of restaurant jobs and retail jobs," said Dean. "I think there’s also a lot of things going on with people re-evaluating what they want to do."

Various factors are creating unbalance in the labour market, but they all have to do with the lasting effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some analysts speculate that the limits to immigration over the past year and a half may be partly to blame.

Dean said that the massive changes to work-life during the pandemic caused many people to think about their professional priorities. The resulting changes many workers are making to their careers are shifting labour supply from industry to industry.

What about Oakville small businesses?

Angelo Triant has been the co-owner of Oakville’s popular King’s Arms gastropub for 21 years. He says that he has been having trouble finding staff at both the restaurants he operates. King’s Arms employs 30 people, mostly from Oakville.

Triant said that what few people are applying for jobs now expect higher wages and benefits, which his establishment can’t provide. Labour shortages can be particularly hard on small, independent restaurants and retail stores, which operate on skinny margins.

"It’s the planning; it’s the certainty. I think that’s what a lot of the programs during the pandemic were targeted at," said Redden. "The rent subsidy, the wage subsidy, it gave business owners that certainty to keep people employed."

"And now," he continues, "small business owners need that certainty that if they do bring people back, that they’re going to have the support there to keep them employed and maintain that employment. And I think workers want that certainty as well. That they are going to enter an economy that’s stable and safe.”

The owner of Maro’s Bistro has also been having trouble finding staff lately.

"Big-time. It’s not a shortage of staff applying; it’s a shortage of quality staff." Maro Al Chaama believes that many people are considering changing their careers, leading to a shortage. He said the media is focusing on low-wage workers in the wake of the pandemic and not giving enough attention to the effects these economic changes are having on small businesses.

Maro Al Chaama owner of Maro
Maro Al Chaama owner of Maro's Bistro | Maro Al Chaama

"If this is the new norm, we’ll be lucky to find restaurants operating seven days a week at full capacity," he said. "I think a lot of places would rather shut down than force customers to pay extra for the chicken or pay extra for the beef."

The Oakville Chamber of Commerce is advocating for government intervention to help with the labour crisis.

"We are calling on the government now to focus on programs that will support the hiring of Canadians, and make it easier for businesses to attract talent, retain talent and keep talent," said Redden. "Hiring grants are going to be critical as we come through and shifting how we can keep people employed in our economy and give businesses the tools that allow them to hire Canadians and people in Oakville as well."