1,600 unfilled manufacturing jobs in Windsor-Sarnia corridor with more to come

A manufacturing industry group is calling on the province to strengthen its measures to meet the growing gap of skilled workers in the sector as new plants come online to supply the electrified automotive revolution.

This week, the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters (CME) released its Manufacturing Ontario’s Future report, outlining new measures for the Ford government to implement to better position the workforce to meet employer needs as billions in public dollars pour into the electric vehicle supply chain.

“Manufacturing is one of those sectors where we always have shortages, we never have enough people to fill up the jobs,” said Dennis Darby, president and CEO of the CME.

According to the group, in the Windsor-Sarnia corridor alone there are 1,600 unfilled manufacturing jobs and a further 2,700 new jobs are projected to arrive in the region tied to investments in industry like the NextStar EV Battery Plant in Windsor.

Across Ontario, Darby puts the number at 19,000 unfilled jobs — just a little less than during the worst moments of the pandemic.

Darby notes a CME analysis has found the province could see 18,500 retirements a year until 2034 as the Baby Boom and Gen-X generations retire.

“If you’ve got chronic shortages already and then with all the investments, it really is a perfect storm to say, ‘We need to act,’” said Darby.

The CME lays out its key measures as follows:

• Doubling down on its efforts to bring industry and education institutions together to address skills gaps and better plan training opportunities with Regional Industry Councils (RICs);
• Augmenting the Ontario Made Manufacturing Investment tax credit with matching support for employer-led training; and,
• Better align the Provincial Nominee Program with the needs of employers and workers to help replenish an aging workforce.

Darby added that the manufacturing sector needs to do a better job of automating and bringing women into its workforce to make up the significant labour gap.

“In Ontario, we have about 50 per cent of the workforce is women. In manufacturing, it’s less than half that,” said Darby. “We don’t have young women and girls, at the school age, choosing to be in the technical skills, so those are the kinds of things we have to do.”

Darby suggested the province would get a ‘B+’ grade for its efforts to improve and boost the skilled trade workforce, but suggests adopting the measures to improve education-industry partnerships, to expand the manufacturing tax credit, and to better target skilled immigrants would move the government into ‘A’ territory.

CTV News reached out to Ontario’s Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade Vic Fedeli for comment but did not hear back as of publishing.