By Michelle Li
For job seekers, the lowest Canadian unemployment rate in 30 years has signified a rise in the number of jobs available. But with workers being able to pick and choose, Centretown business owners are left scrambling to hire and keep new staff.
“Workers can’t commit,” says Robert St-Amour, the general manager at Hartman’s grocery store located at 296 Bank St. “They come and go just as fast as we hire them.”
Javed Rehman, the manager at 2 for 1 Pizza Pie on 320 Bank St., also has trouble maintaining long-term staff. His ‘help wanted’ sign has been up for one year, but he struggles to fill the available positions.
“People have been applying,” he says, “but they only stay a few days and then they quit.”
This forces Rehman to work more hours than he would prefer.
Canada’s unemployment rate has fallen to 6.1 per cent, according to Statistics Canada’s 2006 Labour Force Survey.
According to the report, 42,000 jobs were created in Ontario in December.
Most of the gains in Ontario were made in the service sector and two-thirds of these jobs were part-time.
Ottawa’s unemployment rate, at five per cent, is well below the national average, according to Labour Market Information, a department with Human Resources Canada.
According to Carl Sullivan, a program co-ordinator at Job Connect, a downtown youth employment service, there are many other indicators that Ottawa employers are currently hiring.
Sullivan says there are a number of job fairs planned over the next few weeks. The number of temporary employment agencies located in the area has increased and there are several ‘help wanted’ signs in storefronts.
Andrew Brown, a new employee at the Subway restaurant chain’s 414 Bank St. location, is a high school senior who sent out resumés in the area. He says finding a job was easy.
“I pretty much got the job on the spot,” says Brown.
The abundance of jobs has given workers the advantage, says Sullivan.
“[Workers] can afford to be more picky than they could have been a few years ago,” he says.
The transient nature of workers has left businesses in a difficult position.
At Hartman’s, St-Amour says the store has been working at less than its full potential.
“I don’t feel we are providing the service level that we should be,” he says.
“We would like to be quicker by having packers at the end of checkout lanes during prime time or having people to stock the shelves.”
Finding new reliable staff is the problem, says Efie Gattas, owner of Gabriel Pizza, at Bank and Somerset St. Gattas is currently looking to hire a part-time and a full-time driver.
Though there are several jobs available in the area, there are still unemployed Canadians.
Sullivan says there are a number of underemployed college graduates who might be jobless because they want a job that matches their level of education.
Other factors, he adds, include immigrants who might experience language barriers or face problems with their foreign credentials.
Even something such as the weather could affect jobs in Centretown, says Sullivan.
“If it doesn’t stay cold enough and Winterlude turns out be a washout,” he says, “then we won’t get people or money coming to the area. This could lead to lay-offs in the service industry.”
Despite the inevitable flaws in unemployment, the overall economy is in good shape, says Andrew Sharpe.
Sharpe is an economist and the executive director of the Centre for the Study of Living Standards in Ottawa. He says the low unemployment rate is an especially good indication of a healthy economy because January typically lacks jobs.
“Employment falls, especially in the retail and restaurant industry, because they are usually busier in December,” he says.
Sharpe says he thinks that the unemployment rate will stay under seven per cent for the time being.