QUILL region has historically experienced one of the lowest unemployment rates in the province. To see the most recent unemployment rate, please refer to Four County Labour Market Planning Board’s monthly Unemployment Rate press releases: https://www.planningboard.ca/news/
While a low unemployment rate is often seen as a positive sign of economic health and growth, it can have negative consequences for businesses. A low unemployment rate indicates that fewer people are currently looking for work. This means that the pool of available applicants is small, often resulting in challenges for businesses that need to fill open positions. The number of people available to work may be significantly smaller than the number of vacancies. Additionally, those looking for work may not have the appropriate skillset or be interested in the industries, geographic locations or type of work (such as hours of work or shift work requirements, indoor vs. outdoor work, part-time vs. full-time work, or seasonal work opportunities) of available jobs.
When there is a low unemployment rate, employees may also be more likely to leave jobs for various reasons, as workers are in high demand and most can easily find another position. This impacts retention which can have long-term consequences for productivity and business succession planning, for example. For employers, a chronically low unemployment rate can add to the existing challenges and investment required to advertise, interview, hire, and train new employees.
How does a low unemployment rate affect the workforce?
When the unemployment rate is low, businesses are competing for a limited number of available workers. In this climate, workers with in-demand skillsets often have many job opportunities and those who remain unemployed may have greater barriers to employment and might require additional training to achieve success in the workplace.
For employers, one consequence of low unemployment may be that they are now hiring employees who do not always have all the skills they need to do a job well. When low unemployment is prevalent and employers are working short-staffed, they are continuing to hire but are often finding new employees have greater or different training needs than in the past.
How might this impact local training needs?
When unemployment rates are low and employers are hiring people who may not have all the skills they need for workplace success, there may be an increased need for additional workplace training or for different types of workplace training. An increased need for soft skills training is frequently requested regardless of industry or size of the business. Employers may also be seeing different needs for training related to things like digital skills, numeracy, or English as a Second Language (ESL) training.
LBS practitioners and other local training providers can support these changing business needs by continuing to offer and advertise customizable workplace training throughout the QUILL region.
How can I find out more about training options for my business?
For more information about workplace training providers and available courses in your region, please contact execdir@quillnetwork.ca .
