“Why can’t companies find enough employees to staff their businesses? This was a problem the summer of 2015 in Cavendish – businesses were offering as much as $15/hour – primarily for cleaning cottages – but could not get enough staff. As well companies like HGS in Montague have cited the inability to get workers, and closed as a result. With an unemployment rate that has hovered between 9% and 12% in recent years, why can’t workers be found? I believe mobility is the main issue – workers don’t have or can’t afford the transportation to get to where the jobs are. Government should aid businesses and workers by providing mass transportation to places where jobs exist.”
References
- CBC – January 12, 2016 – HGS in Montague closing, 65 people to lose jobs
- “The limited labour market size has not allowed us to produce the scale that the business requires to be sustainable,” said Joanne Morrison of HGS North America. “This critical fact, multiplied by the challenges in the Canadian economic climate, has made this decision necessary.”
- “(HGS) likes to have centres with a strong employment level, and we just couldn’t compete at our little site,’’ she said. “You could see what was happening last fall.”
- PEI UNEMPLOYMENT RATE, DECEMBER 2015 (Seasonally adjusted) (PDF)
- CBC – September 4, 2015 – P.E.I. unemployment rate falls for 1st time in 10 months
- “Employers are telling us that it is becoming more difficult to recruit and retain workers, while at the same time we know that there are many Islanders seeking employment. And we think there is a gap between the employer and the employees.” – Richard Brown, Minster of Workforce and Advanced Learning
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