With more and more positions going unfilled in the food and beverage processing industry, Food Processing Skills Canada conducted some research to see what are the current perspectives of the most promising segments of the population to fill these needed positions. In Your Next Worker, we surveyed four population segments (i.e., Youth, Tenuously Attached, Recent Immigrants and Indigenous People) to see what their perceptions would be working in various food processing industries. These four segments were chosen for a number of reasons like significantly more likely to look for employment or relatively high unemployment rates. When exposed to fact based information about the industry, their perspectives shifted and for some there was some great positive impact. This gives hope to the possibility of having these vital jobs filled and you finding your next worker.
When looking at the entire industry 65,000 new workers are needed to meet the Agri-Food Economic Strategy Roundtable export targets for 2025.
At the time of the survey and across the four target segments, 24% were unemployed and 21% worked part-time.
Recent immigrants appeared to be the most promising of the four segments, based on their level of motivation, perceptions of working in the sector and interest in exploring a career in it.
