It’s the dog days of summer, and the labour market in Collingwood is either heating up or cooling down, depending on your perspective.
According to Statistics Canada, in July 2024, Canada’s unemployment rate held steady at 6.4 per cent. The unemployment rate for youth aged 15 to 24 was 14.2 per cent in July, which was up 0.7 percentage points from the previous month and the highest rate since September 2012 outside of the pandemic.
The labour force participation rate — the proportion of the population aged 15 and older who are either working or looking for work — fell 0.3 percentage points to 65 per cent in July, the lowest rate since June 1998 outside of the pandemic.
The ramifications of this are hitting home, with multiple Collingwood businesses sharing stories of how they’re coping with a lack of both skilled and unskilled labour.
Laura Gambie, owner of Mountain Men Barbershop, said her shop is always looking for new stylists and barbers – a trend that’s held steady for her post-pandemic.
“We’re finding we’re not getting people applying, and when we do get someone and schedule an interview, they don’t show,” said Gambie. “I think a lot of stylists have left the industry.”
To compensate for a staff shortage, Gambie has had to adjust operating hours for the shop, which is now open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. so shift overlap is no longer necessary.
“I love the industry, but it’s hard. It’s hard on us to find someone local,” she said, adding that she’s been contacted by immigration to see if she’d be willing to take on and sponsor employees from overseas through the temporary foreign worker program.
The temporary foreign worker program allows Canadian employers to hire foreign workers to fill temporary jobs when qualified Canadians are not available. The Canadian government will help facilitate businesses in hiring a temporary foreign worker for two years.
“I said no. I’m hiring local before I hire outside our country,” said Gambie.
Pizza Nova owner Jason Mofrad – an Iranian refugee himself – has also considered using temporary foreign workers, but has settled on not using the program at this time.
“I know other businesses do that. We don’t do that,” he said. “I came to this country as a refugee, and I know how hard that is.”
Mofrad has owned Pizza Nova in Collingwood for the past four years since it opened, and many of his employees have been with him since the beginning. When he does hire, he tends to ask his existing employees to refer someone, which has been successful for him to date.
“We all work together. I don’t look at my employees as workers. I treat them like my family,” he said. “I worked in this country all my life. What I went through with others, I don’t want my employees to go through.”
When asked why some places may have difficulty hiring, Mofrad said the affluence of Collingwood residents is a factor.
“I think people in Collingwood...don’t want their kids to work. I used to have kids from Collingwood work here. They would be here for one or two months and then they’d leave,” he said.
Andrea Sire, owner of COBS Bread in Collingwood, said she has a solid crew of employees and she has hired two bakers through the temporary foreign worker program.
“It’s been a huge help to me,” said Sire.
Sire said she also tends to recruit through her own network.
“It’s creative. I get staff to refer. I rely on students who have worked for me in the past, and I offer flexible scheduling,” she said.
Bradley Green of TRACKS Employment Services in Collingwood said the agency sees a lot of people who are from Toronto who want to move to Collingwood and find jobs here.
TRACKS runs different programs for job-seekers and employers, and said his agency has seen employers get many applications from job-seekers outside Collingwood and beyond.
He said the labour market overall is going through a transition into an employer market, where business owners have their pick of prospective employees in most cases. In Collingwood, there's a wide chasm between what employers are willing to offer in compensation and how much it costs to live here.
“There’s no consistency in the experience,” said Green. “A lot of our people are not tech-savvy, which seems strange in this day and age. We have employers that don’t want to use a cell phone. They’re very old-school.”
When asked about advice for employers having difficulty hiring, Green said a good place to start is becoming more familiar with the local market, specifically what other employers are paying in the area for similar jobs.
“Are you paying what is the norm? Are you asking for something beyond the usual?” said Green. “Check out the competition’s ads.”
Diversifying where your listing is going can also help. He said Indeed is well-used, but consider posting online in other places such as your local online newspaper, or physical flyers/posters put up around town.
