Yukon's labour supply can't meet existing demand, report shows

A new report from the Conference Board of Canada says Yukon's labour supply can't meet the demand for workers, and says that challenge is expected to continue in the years ahead. 

Lead researcher Amanda Thompson said the report, called Learning from One Another — Labour Markets in the Yukon, aims to "keep employment and wealth in the North," by identifying labour market demands. She said the goal of the research is to help identify the skills Yukoners need to adapt to a changing economy. 

Over the past five years, the Yukon has consistently had the highest job vacancy rate in the country, according to the report. 

Thompson said immigrant labour and workers moving from other parts of the country offers a possible solution, but a "major barrier" is the territory's strained housing market.

Whitehorse rental rates at all-time high 

The report says the cost of purchasing a home in Whitehorse had increased by 75 per cent from 2012 to 2022. It also said Whitehorse rental property rates are at an all-time high.

Thompson said that's a deterrent for Canadians from down south who might be interested in moving to the North but can't find a place to live. 

"In talking to employers, they identified they were able to recruit people with specialized skills, but once it came time to find a house, employees just weren't able to relocate to the territory," said Thompson.  

The report says education offers one potential solution. The number of working-age adults without a job is greater than the number of vacant jobs, but potential workers may not have the training and skill sets the market requires. 

Twenty-eight per cent of immigrants in the Yukon with a post-secondary education aren't working in a job that requires a post-secondary education. The report suggests foreign credential recognition could free up highly skilled immigrant labour. 

The report also highlighted the opportunity to address the gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous working-age adults.

"The disparities in education and employment are slightly higher than we see in the southern provinces in Canada," said Thompson. 

In 2023, the labour market participation rate of the Indigenous population in the territory was 63 per cent, while 75 per cent of the non-Indigenous population were participating in the labour market.

She said Yukon University is working to make the school more inclusive by integrating Indigenous ways of knowing and doing in its programming, and by educating the university population on the histories and realities of Indigenous people.

GDP in relation to employment rates by industry

By far the largest employer in the territory is public administration and defence, which employ a third of the working population. Public administration is also the largest contributor to the territory's gross domestic product. 

While mining is the third-largest contributor to gross domestic product, Thompson says it's not a major employer of Yukoners.

"There's a lot of fly-in, fly-out labour going on," said Thompson. 

When workers don't live in the Yukon, it means they're spending the majority of their paycheques elsewhere. She said in a previous study focused only on the territory's mining industry,  researchers found only one in three employees of the Eagle Gold mine — which is no longer operating — resided in the territory. 

"So it's not going to have a huge impact on the mining labour market [in the Yukon], but it will have some trickle down effects including wholesale, resale and trade, as well as accommodation and services for those fly-in, fly-out workers," said Thomspon. 

Unions not considered

The Yukon Federation of Labour is criticizing the report for not considering the role of unions in building a strong economy in the territory. Thirty per cent of the workforce is employed by the public sector which is, by and large, unionized. 

Teresa Acheson, president of the federation, said unions negotiate fair compensation and benefits packages for their members, contributing to a standard of living for Yukon workers that meets the cost of living increases, inflation and unique needs of working in the North. 

"When we're talking about the housing crisis, that's the reason some of the federal workers coming up here actually have housing as part of their union benefits," said Acheson. 

She said the union is also an advocate for increasing the number of women in trades. The Conference Board report acknowledges women are an overlooked source of labour in the trades.

Acheson also said unions have been instrumental historically in helping to narrow wage gaps. In the Yukon, women make on average $54,100 per year compared to men, who make an average $62,150 per year, according to the report. 

Thompson said unions were not in the scope of this project, but said "it's definitely something for future research."