Labour shortages expected to persist in Sudbury in 2024

Employment experts say labour shortages will continue to plague employers across the north in 2024, but some programs are helping to ease the problem.

The City of Greater Sudbury said 524 people were recommended to the Rural Northern Immigration Pilot Program in the city in 2023.

Those newcomers to Canada were hired for jobs that employers desperately needed to fill, but couldn’t because of the province’s skilled labour shortage.

“The employer plays a very important role, not only in offering a permanent job but also in helping these newcomers find their feet. Often there’s opportunity for spousal employment,” said Meredith Armstrong, the city’s director of economic development.

The federal program is set to wrap up at the end of February.

Armstrong said she hopes Sudbury’s success in the past three years will show the need to make it permanent, especially since at least another 1,000 jobs could still be filled.

Employment experts say labour shortages will continue to plague employers across the north in 2024, but some programs are helping to ease the problem. (Photo from video)

“We know that the demand is there,” she said.

“We also know that the demand is there on the side of the candidate as well as the employers who need that talent. So with this process that we’ve developed in support with our settlement agencies and our community groups, we feel confident that we could meet that.”

But those aren’t the only jobs that will need to be filled around the Sudbury region.

The labour market research group, Workforce Planning Sudbury-Manitoulin said in 2023 it found 31,000 job postings from other employment sites, which it then reposted to its online job board.

HUGE DEMAND

“We are still finding there is a huge demand for various occupations, sometimes the lower-paid occupations like retail sales, cooks, cleaners, and customer service. We still find there’s a lot of jobs that are posted that way,” said executive director Reggie Caverson.

Spark Employment Services helps connect job seekers with employers needing to fill positions. There are plenty of opportunities in the city, officials said.

“There was a time when people would look at your degrees and where you went to college, what school you came from,” said organizational change manager, Dhwani Bhatia.

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“But now it’s all about: do you know your stuff? If you’re confident, it does not matter if you know what you’re doing.”

Employment experts also predict that artificial intelligence will begin to impact the labour market in the near future, particularly in health care and customer service.