Question Period Note: Labour shortage in Quebec

Labour shortage in Quebec

• Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions helps entrepreneurs bring their business projects to fruition and overcome labour shortages by investing in innovation and adoption technologies.
• Since November 2015, Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions has approved 1,233 projects in support of productivity and innovation for authorized assistance of $568 million, generating total investments of over $4.4 billion.
• Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions will continue to invest in technology adoption to support businesses in their recovery efforts.
  Supplementary response:
• CED supports the growth of SMEs at all stages of their development, whether it be for their startup, or for innovation, productivity or growth projects or projects targeting the development of foreign markets.

• According to a study by the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) in 2021, Quebec is the most difficult place in the country to hire. In fact, more than 60% of Quebec companies are having difficulty finding workers.
• For Quebec SMEs, the impact of the labour shortage is felt in many ways: reduced ability to meet customer orders, reduced competitiveness, reduced product quality, increased training costs, increased employee overtime, and increased wages, which can result in reduced profitability and growth.
• Some industry sectors are more affected than others by hiring difficulties, particularly manufacturing, retail trade, construction, health care, professional services, and transportation and warehousing.
• According to Statistics Canada, in the 2nd quarter of 2021, the number of vacant positions in Canada was 731,905. Quebec had 194,145 vacancies, for a vacancy rate of 5.3%.
• Improved productivity through new technologies and automation benefits employees by freeing them up to do more interesting work. Companies that have automated some of their functions are 2 times more likely to find it easy to hire workers while improving their productivity and competitiveness.

For Quebec SMEs, the impact of labour shortages is felt in many ways and can result in reduced profitability and growth. Some industrial sectors are more affected than others by the hiring difficulty, including the retail and manufacturing sectors. Productivity improvements through new technologies and automation are helping to address this issue.