As published in the Guardian Newspaper January 21st, 2010 - written by Blake Doyle
We are early into the calendar year and many businesses are optimistically looking forward to the coming year. Plans are being formalized and solutions to anticipated challenges are being formulated.
Labour promises to be a more complex input for business as the economic recovery continues. Island Recruiting recently conducted a local labour market survey to assess businesses plans for the coming year. The results are both insightful and encouraging. The data indicates a number of the key areas Prince Edward Island business will be focused on in the coming year.
There were over 900 surveys sent to small business owners. The majority of business respondents were in companies of twenty and under; while thirty-five per cent of respondents were involved in companies under five persons.
Almost seventy per cent of respondents had exclusively full-time employees in their operations and twenty-two per cent had a mix of full and part-time employees complementing their staff. The majority of salaries within the respondent firms was forty thousand and under, with a heavier weighting of salaries ranging between thirty thousand and forty thousand.
That frames up the field. The interesting data is the responses to the HR needs over the coming year and the optimism that is underlying the responses.
Two thirds of the companies surveyed had hired staff within the last six months. In gauging the optimism of local businesses it was determined that 32 per cent of respondents had filled one-or-two positions in the last six months, and 23 per cent had filled three-to-five positions over the same period.
In general most businesses are planning to hire more employees in the coming year. Twenty-one per cent are planning to add to their staff in the next three months and fifteen per cent are planning to hire in the next six months.
BMO Nesbitt Burns forecasts 1.5 per cent real GDP growth this year in Prince Edward Island (aggregated 2.7 per cent from last year) and 2.6 per cent real GDP in Canada (up 5 per cent from last year), it would appear the economy is forecasting an economic recovery from the recent recession. With the recovery started, it is only a matter of time before the local labour market is under pressure.
In the survey, the first quarter of 2010 appeared to be the period where firms had the most identifiable plans to hire new employees. The further out the planning, the less consistent the hiring planning appeared. As a means to address the labour gaps, only thirty-six per cent of respondents had considered augmenting their labour force with foreign workers and thirteen per cent required more information on the subject before they could form an opinion.
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