Mortgage agents are boots-on-the-ground financial professionals who know what is going on in the economy in real time. I spend a big part of my day talking to clients, looking at employment letters, T4s, pay stubs, tax returns, etc. to understand my clients, qualify them for mortgages, and finance their lives. As I talk to people, I often feel like a counsellor, as people share with me what is going on in their lives and what is happening with their employment situation.
Canada is having an employment crisis.
Jobs in the trades are disappearing
Apprenticeships are disappearing
Technology Firms are laying off
Jobs in the trades are disappearing.
Canada has a housing crisis. Yet at the same time, the condo market is frozen, and construction has all but stopped. We are not building nearly enough homes. Industry at large is slowing. New projects have been put on hold or have been cancelled. These projects employ thousands of talented tradespeople, who are now having their hours cut.
One plumbing firm is reducing the hours of its staff of licensed plumbers. Not enough work. They don’t want to completely let them go, because it will be hard to get them back in the future if things get better, but for now, the company’s cash flow says hours they have to cut. However, apprentices are being released, and their careers have ended for the time being.
An electrical firm is having the same experience. The economy is slowing, building is stopping, and there just isn’t enough work out there. Everyone says, ‘We need more tradespeople’, but that’s not the reality on the ground today. Just like the plumbers, if you are licensed, you are facing fewer paid hours and a great deal of stress as you are staring at a very scary mortgage renewal. As for the apprentices, they are being let go, and new apprentices, the future of the trade, are not being hired even as they have just completed their college training.
Apprenticeships are disappearing.
Our young people have been told to go into the trades. So many have answered the call and enrolled in college training programs to become the licensed trades professionals we need to build Canada. Now they face rejection just when they thought the country needed them. Apprentices expecting industry to eagerly receive them are now being told we don’t want you. They have the education, but they can’t get started. There’s no work for them. What they have learned is being forgotten. Yet pundits will tell you we have a skills gap.
Tech firms are laying off
So many ‘experts’ talk about the apparent shortage of technology workers in Canada. If this is the case, why are so many technology companies laying off tens of thousands of workers? Why are technology workers in Canada being paid 48% of what they would be paid in the USA? Technology firms are re-tooling their workforces towards AI and away from the non-core activities of their enterprises. AI is the future, but it will have a profound impact on the future need for technology workers.
Canada does have a program to attract the highest talent people to Canada to help build the economy and make Canada more globally competitive in the future. But ultra-high talent individuals want to go to a place that rewards their success. They seek out low-cost, low-tax jurisdictions where they can grow and flourish. Every country in the world wants these people. Unfortunately, Canadian taxes and the ultra-high cost of living dissuade such individuals from considering Canada. Nobody wants to give more than half of what they earn away.
Get Help
I am a financial professional on the ground, serving my clients every day. People used to go from house to rent; now they go from house to tent. Don’t let that be you. If you are facing uncertainty, contact me as soon as possible. Time is of the essence; I can do a lot for you if I have a little time to work. I can help you get through the tough times.
Keep my contact information in a safe place; you never know when you’ll need it.
