Results of the 2019 EmployerOne Survey

Many area employers are reporting they are having difficulty filling jobs because they are simply not getting enough applicants.

This is one of many highlights from our community’s annual EmployerOne survey, conducted by the Workforce Planning Board of Grand Erie and 20 other organizations.

More than half (54%) of the 359 employers who completed the survey said they had hard-to-fill jobs in 2018. The No. 1 reason: lack of people applying for positions.

“The shortage of applicants is widespread across all of southwestern Ontario, raising concerns about how to engage local workers in rewarding and sustainable employment,” said Jill Halyk, executive director of the Workforce Planning Board. “Traditional recruiting practices are no longer working and we need to find innovative ways to connect workers to meaningful jobs in local businesses. “

This challenge is coming at a time when companies have been hiring and want to hire. Seventy per cent of employers surveyed locally plan to hire in 2019, while 84% of those hired last year, according to EmployerOne results.

“This is the 6th year we’ve conducted the EmployerOne survey and we’ve found that employers tend to underestimate their hiring plans for the year ahead. This bodes well for the local job market,” Halyk said.

EmployerOne surveys employers in Brantford, Brant, Haldimand, Norfolk, Six Nations and New Credit about their hiring plans, practices, needs and challenges, including skills shortages and hard-to-fill jobs.

Survey results are being shared with employers, government and other groups. Results are also posted on the Workforce Planning Board’s website.

Some other EmployerOne highlights:

  • Manufacturing remains our area’s No. 1 employer (60 firms hired a total of 1,212 people in 2018)
  • About 2 in 3 jobs are full-time positions, with manufacturing offering the most full-time work
  • Online job boards are the No. 1 way employers recruit
  • Work ethic is the No. 1 skill desired by employees, followed by self-motivation