This technical report summarizes key findings from the 2017-18 Labour Market Information study, Securing Canada’s Meat Workforce, focused on the Canadian meat processing industry. Conducted by Food Processing Skills Canada (FPSC) with industry and government partners, the study aimed to identify human resource (HR) challenges and best practices to support workforce needs. An Advisory Group, including industry associations, helped guide the research, which was supported by multiple consulting firms and funded by the Government of Canada’s Sector Initiative Program. The report covers methods, sector overview, key occupations, labour sources, provincial supply and demand forecasts, and public perceptions of working in the sector. It concludes by outlining HR challenges and promising solutions to build a sustainable meat processing workforce.
Meat processing is an important part of the Canadian economy, contributing about $6.5 billion to Canada’s GDP and employing nearly 60,000 people across the country.
The industry will need to hire a net of nearly 2,275 additional new workers over the next three years to meet expansion and workforce retirements.
The analysis indicated that eight of the fourteen regions studied in-depth, were facing very tight labour markets where the current or projected demand for workers (total and lower skill level) from the regional industries was higher than the existing local labour market.
