Skills gaps and recruitment difficulties in Canada: Findings from the Survey of Employers on Workers' Skills

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Release date: October 17, 2022
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Description: Skills gaps and recruitment difficulties in Canada: Findings from the Survey of Employers on Workers' Skills

The majority of employers in Canada reported skills gaps in their total workforce. Note 1

The gaps in skills can be seen across various industries in Canada.


Table 1
Top 10 industries with the highest percentage of businesses that reported skills gaps in their workforce
Table summary
This table displays the results of Top 10 industries with the highest percentage of businesses that reported skills gaps in their workforce. The information is grouped by Industry (appearing as row headers), Proportion of businesses that reported skills gaps in their workforce, calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Industry Proportion of businesses that reported skills gaps in their workforce
percent
All industries 56.1
Administrative and support, waste management and remediation services 57.3
Arts, entertainment and recreation 58.6
Construction 63.6
Wholesale trade 64.4
Educational services 65.4
Manufacturing 67.6
Retail trade 67.8
Utilities 69.5
Accommodation and food services 78.8

Table 2
Businesses that reported skills gaps in their workforce, by province/territory
Table summary
This table displays the results of Businesses that reported skills gaps in their workforce. The information is grouped by Province/territory (appearing as row headers), Proportion of businesses that reported skills gaps in their workforce, calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Province/territory Proportion of businesses that reported skills gaps in their workforce
percent
Prince Edward Island 52.2
New Brunswick 57.0
Nova Scotia 60.2
Newfoundland and Labrador 57.6
Quebec 61.6
Ontario 51.5
Saskatchewan 62.5
Manitoba 60.5
Alberta 54.1
British Columbia 58.2
Yukon 57.4
Nunavut 65.3
Northwest Territories 77.4

Table 3
Businesses that experienced difficulties recruiting employees with the required skills, by province/territory
Table summary
This table displays the results of Businesses that experienced difficulties recruiting employees with the required skills. The information is grouped by Province/territory (appearing as row headers), Proportion of businesses that reported experiencing difficulties recruiting employees, calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Province/territory Proportion of businesses that reported experiencing difficulties recruiting employees
percent
Canada 44.5
Prince Edward Island 45.2
New Brunswick 39.1
Nova Scotia 47.9
Newfoundland and Labrador 36.2
Quebec 55.6
Ontario 40.1
Saskatchewan 42.4
Manitoba 41.7
Alberta 37.7
British Columbia 46.3
Yukon 49.8
Nunavut 51.0
Northwest Territories 52.3

The proportions of micro and small businesses that reported skills gaps and recruitment difficulties are substantially lower than the proportions of other size businesses.


Table 4
Skills gaps and recruitment difficulties, by business size
Table summary
This table displays the results of Skills gaps and recruitment difficulties. The information is grouped by Size (appearing as row headers), Proportion of businesses that reported experiencing difficulties recruiting employees and Proportion of businesses that reported skills gaps in their workforce, calculated using percent units of measure (appearing as column headers).
Size Proportion of businesses that reported experiencing difficulties recruiting employees Proportion of businesses that reported skills gaps in their workforce
percent
Micro 25.3 33.1
Small 60.3 73.7
Medium 73.3 90.0
Large 66.0 93.0

Microbusinesses have 1 to 4 employees; small businesses, 5 to 19 employees; medium-sized businesses, 20 to 99 employees; and large businesses, 100 or more employees.

Skills with the highest gaps

More than half (57.5%) of businesses that reported skills gaps in their workforce said that the skills requiring the most improvement were technical, practical or job-specific skills, followed by problem-solving skills (46.2%).

Fewer than 1 in 10 businesses reported that their employees needed improvement in reading comprehension (3.6%) and basic math and calculating skills (6.8%).

Source: Statistics Canada, Survey of Employers on Workers’ Skills, 2022.

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Copyright

Published by authority of the Minister responsible for Statistics Canada.

© His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Industry, 2022

Use of this publication is governed by the Statistics Canada Open Licence Agreement.

Catalogue no. 11-627-M

Frequency: Occasional

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