Brock professor says in real labour shortage, wages/benefits would be addressed
A Brock University labour studies professor doesn't completely buy into belief there is a labour shortage, despite Help Wanted signs.
Simon Black tells us while government and industry do their best to fill job vacancies, he stresses business owners tend to have their own view of a labour shortage.
"When I advertise a job, and there are not 50 applications the next day offering to work for less than the bare bones salary I offer, there's a labour shortage. What should happen when there are tight labour markets, is improvements in labour and wage conditions.", he says.
The university professor adds Ontario is a low wage province, and in a real labour shortage, there would be improvements to wages and benefits.
He also points out even though last month there were a record number of jobs available, there is what he calls the labour underutilization rate. "So that's the proportion of people in the potential labour force who have stopped looking for a job. And also people who are employed and working less than half the usual hours. That's nowhere close to zero. So that means there's still slack in the labour market."
The university professor adds there are indications Canada is heading for a lengthy recession, with employment rate falling for three consecutive months.
He suggests in order to avoid suffering from the impact of a recession, you should join a union, where there is bargaining power to discuss wages, benefits and job security.
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