Median age of workers very high across all sectors
MANITOULIN—Manitoulin Island’s workforce makes considerably less money and is far older than the District of Sudbury and the City of Greater Sudbury, something that could have major impacts according to a report released last week by Workforce Planning for Sudbury and Manitoulin (WPSM).
“The proportion of older workers in (Manitoulin’s) labour force is higher,” states the report. “This may lead to significant problems down the not-too-distant road as there will not be enough people of working age without increasing migration and immigration into the district.”
The report shows that across several employment sectors on Manitoulin, the amount of workers aged 55 and older ranges from a low of 43.8 percent of retail and wholesale trade managers to a staggering 100 percent of “general farm workers.”
WPSM executive director Reggie Caverson says the farming sector is likely split into two groups, with a second category of “managers in agriculture” having a rate of 64.3 percent being older than 55. She suspects this category includes one-person operations or the managers of family-run farms without formal employees—WPSM’s data comes directly from Statistics Canada which sets its own category definitions.
For Sudbury District, the lowest proportion of 55+ workers is in carpentry, with a proportion of 36.4 percent. The district’s highest proportion is 87.5 percent of its bus drivers and transit operators over that same age.
In the City of Greater Sudbury, 35 percent of property administrators are over 55 years old, its lowest proportion, and 66.7 percent of its railway and yard locomotive engineers are over 55, its highest percentage.
Across all job categories, 39.5 percent of workers in the City of Greater Sudbury are older than 55. Sudbury District follows closely behind at 41.7 percent. Manitoulin, however, has a median of 64.3 percent of its workers being older than 55.
“The aging population on Manitoulin Island is going to cause significant problems on several fronts. For one, if these businesses are employing other people, they need to be looking at succession planning right now,” says Ms. Caverson.
She says WPSM is currently working with the LaCloche Manitoulin Business Assistance Corporation (LAMBAC) to create a video specifically for Manitoulin employers about succession planning.
“We don’t want to lose places that are closing up. One, they provide a service to the community but two, they also provide employment,” says Ms. Caverson. “We know the population of Manitoulin District is growing a tiny bit now, but in five years who knows what it could look like. Right across Northeastern Ontario the demographics are changing significantly.”
Manitoulin’s biggest economic industry is a group called ‘agriculture, forestry, fishing and farming.’ Next is ‘retail trade,’ ‘construction,’ ‘accommodation and food services’ and finally ‘real estate, rental and leasing.’ In the other two regions as well as Ontario as a whole, ‘real estate, rental and leasing’ assumes the top spot economically.
Since farming makes up a significant portion of the Island’s economy, to see that all its general workers are nearing old age could be cause for concern. Ms. Caverson says beef operations tend to stay within a family, but horticultural farmers have found difficulty getting their children to take over the operations.
“It’s hard to keep a business growing if you don’t have people to do the work. We’re finding a lot of young people not wanting to get into (farming) and who aren’t prepared to do that kind of work. In the Windsor area, a lot of farming is done by temporary foreign workers because they can’t get people to come in and do the work,” says Ms. Caverson.
There are 4,930 people in Manitoulin Island’s labour force with slightly more females employed compared to males (2,525 as opposed to 2,405). Thirty-four percent of those people identify as Indigenous, 30 individuals identify as visible minorities and there are 130 francophones.
One notable statistic is salaries on Manitoulin Island. When accounting for all male employees, Manitoulin wages are almost half compared to the District of Sudbury. The median income on the Island is $29,347 compared to the district’s $57,987.
When only accounting for male full-time employees, the gap shrinks marginally; however, male full-time workers on Manitoulin earn roughly 39 percent less than those in the District of Sudbury—$39,638 on Manitoulin compared to $65,407 in Sudbury District.
Ms. Caverson says this could be reflective of the lower cost of housing on the Island and may not be entirely unreasonable.
Manitoulin presents unique statistics when looking at wages for female workers. Women out-earn men’s salaries on the Island in the full-time and overall categories, and the category of all female workers has a higher median income on Manitoulin than in the District of Sudbury. However, full-time women in Sudbury District and all female employees in the City of Greater Sudbury still earn a higher wage than women on Manitoulin.
“Manitoulin seemed to be a bit of an anomaly. We can’t say if this contributes or not, but we’re finding more Indigenous women going on to post-secondary education and taking on more leadership roles, so we’re trying to understand what that means,” says Ms. Caverson.
She notes that in Island Anishinabek businesses and governance there have been more women assuming management roles, something which would contribute to higher wages. However, she says another factor could be the largely-male farm workers and managers who either earn lower wages or under-report their income.
Beyond Manitoulin there is a significant wage gap between women and men. Even when only accounting for full-time workers in both categories, men earn $69,260 and women only make $49,206 in the City of Greater Sudbury. That’s over 40 percent more than for men.
“It confirms what we already knew, based on recent national studies looking at the same types of questions,” says Ms. Caverson.
The report notes that sales and service jobs mainly represent the lowest median income for both men and women, there is a growing demand for personal support workers (PSWs) that may be difficult to supply, a decline in the number of apprentices and training opportunities for those apprentices and an underrepresentation of women in all skilled trades except hairstyling.
There were 193 Manitoulin-area jobs posted online in 2018, up from 128 in 2017. Employers cite “work ethic” as the highest-ranked competency they search for in potential employees. Nearly 30 percent of all jobs posted online are for sales and service positions, and employers say it is increasingly difficult to find reliable people to fill these jobs.
The report also notes that many employers do not provide training for their positions which makes matching job-seekers to industry needs increasingly difficult.
