People exiting workforce quicker than they can be replaced in midwestern Ontario

More than 1,500 jobs are available in midwestern Ontario, with people exiting the workplace faster than they can be replaced. (Scott Miller/JCTV News London)

“The challenges we are facing today are bigger than any one company,” is what Nathan DeBoer, co-owner of Syfilco Limited told a recent job forum in Exeter. Like almost every company in midwestern Ontario, Syfilco needs employees, but that’s hard to come by in Huron County.

“Huron County is the second oldest county in the entire province,” said deBoer.

Huron County has people leaving the workforce faster than they can be replaced. In April alone, 400 people aged 15 and older joined the potential labour force in an area stretching from Tobermory to Stratford.

Problem is, 2,700 left the region’s workforce, either through retirement or moving elsewhere.

“I’m 70. And, you know, I’m on my way out. So, currently I’m training a new apprentice,” said Larry Livingston, president of the Huron County Manufacturing Association.

But there’s just not enough apprentices to replace retirees in the region, leaving more than 1,500 jobs unfilled across midwestern Ontario.

“Being in a rural community as we are, housing is an issue, transportation is an issue. Let’s say you’re going to a job fair in London, looking for workers, and they say I’ll take an Uber to you. We’re in Dashwood, so that’s just not an option,” said Rianne Gingerich, human resources manager at the McCann Group, a commercial concrete contractor with locations in Dashwood, Clinton, Watford, Mitchell and Exeter.

While there are incremental improvements in transportation, the vastness of Huron, Perth, Bruce, and Grey counties, does not lend itself to easy mobility. Outside of shoreline communities, building homes for retirees or higher paying Bruce Power workers, more affordable housing or rental options are tough to come by.

“Members of the manufacturing community voiced their opinions at various roundtables, 30 years ago. Infrastructure, housing, boots on the ground, and that has not changed,” said Livingston.

But the talking continues at events like the South Huron Rural Workforce and Innovation Forum, because, as DeBoer told his fellow Huron County employers, the worker shortage is much larger than just one company.

Collaboration amongst competitors is the only way to survive.

“We need everybody to work together, and collaboration is very key on this,” he said.

For more on the jobs situations and the numerous jobs available in midwestern Ontario, you can visit connect2JOBS - Four County Labour Market Planning Board