Small businesses can't find staff despite Canada's high unemployment rate

Canada's labour shortage continues to harm the economy as over half of small Canadian businesses struggle to find staff, according to a new report.

Over half of these businesses just need staff to match normal or heightened operations as lockdown restrictions are slowly relaxed.

This news comes in the wake of small businesses across the country hiking their wages to attract new staff. The Royal Bank of Canada said that the number of job vacancies increased by 22 percent this summer.

Despite this, the unemployment rate in Canada is at 6.7 percent, meaning Canadians are choosing simply not to work even with these wage hikes.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) discovered that 55 percent of small businesses do not have the staff to run their stores.

Another 16 percent said that the labour shortage allows them to run their stores but at a significant loss.

"Small businesses were already experiencing a very significant shortage of labour at the beginning of 2020, and the pandemic has made the situation only more complex," said the CFIB vice-president of national research.

"Industries that were locked down for long periods of time, like hospitality, have seen a mass exodus as workers upskilled or switched to other jobs, and virtually all sectors are facing major demographic upheavals with not enough new workers coming in to replace those who are retiring," he added.