With phrases like the Great Resignation figuring prominently in business news across North America these days, this story is playing out even more poignantly in rural communities like the ones throughout Saskatchewan.
The Great Resignation is people emerging from the COVID lockdowns with a desire to change jobs.
A new study from Statistics Canada – The outlook of rural businesses, fourth quarter of 2021 — looks at how businesses outside the major cities are coping with the compounding effect of resignations, job movement and empty spots because so many have COVID-19 right now.
It shows that businesses operating in smaller centres are finding the situation even more challenging. The most obvious challenge is that they have a much smaller pool of labour to draw from simply because they have a smaller population base.
Raising wages for existing workers is primary tactic they are deploying in response. Statistics Canada says 49 per cent of respondents offered this answer, which is slightly higher than in urban environments.
Training on the job ranked second and higher starting wages for new workers was third but on this one, it is urban businesses that are more likely to raise entry-level pay.
