Workforce Summit Tackles Aging Workforce & Retirements

Employers consider how they can redefine retirement and prevent losing talent

 

For Immediate Release
February 20, 2019

Windsor, ON –  Workforce WindsorEssex, the region’s Local Employment Planning Council (LEPC), is launching two new online tools and is hosting a Workforce Summit today. The event brings together local employers to better understand our region’s aging workforce, exchange ideas, and learn workforce planning strategies from guest speakers.

According to the last census, 21% of Windsor-Essex’s workforce is 55 years or older. Combined with low unemployment rates and an existing skills gap, many employers will find it challenging to recruit replacement workers when a worker retires. According to the Canadian Occupational Projection Systems (COPS), 2% of our national workforce will retire in 2019, with certain occupations and sectors being hit harder than others.

To help employers and the community understand the retirement wave and better navigate labour market information by sector, Workforce WindsorEssex has launched an online Sector Dashboard today. This resource contains a dozen interactive dashboards that allow users to pull sector/sub-sector level statistics about the supply and demand of the workforce, including job automation predictions. Users can interact with and download sector and sub-sector level data pertaining to business counts, workforce demographics, incomes, education, projected retirements, postsecondary enrollment, job postings, and job automation potential. Through the tool, users can also learn more about other Workforce WindsorEssex research and tools.

Speakers at the Workforce Summit will present on key topics relating to an aging workforce, including knowledge transfer, engaging an aging workforce, offering benefits to older workers, and succession planning. Teppermans, a 3rd generation family-owned business with 5 locations throughout southwestern Ontario, is sharing what they have learned over 95 years in operation.

In order to continue to provide solutions to employers after the event, Workforce WindsorEssex has launched a new online information hub for employers, workers and the community so they can access recommended 3rd party resources and tools related to key themes such as ageism, the aging workforce, the multi-generational workforce, and succession planning.

QUOTES:

“Workforce WindsorEssex brought employers together today to start an important conversation about planning for an aging workforce, while also equipping them with two new online resources: an online dashboard aimed at sharing sector-level statistics, and a best-practice library. Our goals for today were to empower local employers with strategies and research to tackle the challenge of an aging workforce, and to help them ‘redefine retirement’ by seizing the opportunities to engage retirement-aged workers before and after they retire.”

  • Michelle Suchiu, Executive Director, Workforce WindsorEssex

QUICK FACTS

  • According to the last census, out of 179,565 workers in Windsor-Essex, 37,850 of them (or 21%) are aged 55 years or older. The breakdown is 775 workers aged 75 years or older, 6,145 workers aged 65-74 years, and 30,930 workers aged 55-64 years.

 

  • Here’s a breakdown of our aging workforce by sector:
    • Out of 4,900 agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting workers in Windsor-Essex, 1,415 of them (or 28.8%) are aged 55 years or older.
    • Out of 8,140 transportation and warehousing workers in Windsor-Essex, 2,340 of them (or 28.7%) are aged 55 years or older.
    • Out of 9,885 construction workers in Windsor-Essex, 2,005 of them (or 20.2%) are aged 55 years or older.
    • Out of 36,890 manufacturing workers in Windsor-Essex, 7,260 of them (or 19.6%) are aged 55 years or older.
    • Out of 22,795 health care and social assistance workers in Windsor-Essex, 4,305 of them (or 18.9%) are aged 55 years or older.

 

  • Using the Canadian Occupational Projection System’s (COPS) retirement rates by sector and our region’s top 10 local sectors by number of workers, the following sectors are predicted to be most affected by retirement in 2019:
    • Health Care – 4.8% of workers will retire
    • Retail Trade – 3.8% of workers will retire
    • Motor Vehicles, Trailers and Parts – 4.7% of workers will retire
    • Construction – 4% of workers will retire
    • Fabricated Metal Products and Machinery – 4.4% of workers will retire
    • Food Services – 2.9% of workers will retire
    • Management, Administrative and Other Support Services – 4.1% of workers will retire
    • Repair, Personal and Household Services – 12% of workers will retire
    • Elementry and secondary schools – 3.7% of workers will retire
    • Public administration – 3.6% of workers will retire

 

  • According to COPS, 2% of Canada’s workforce will retire in 2019. Locally, this could translate into 3,591 workers leaving the workforce.

QUICK LINKS

– XXX –

Media Contact:

Justin Falconer
Senior Director
Workforce WindsorEssex
226-674-3220 ext 854
jfalconer@workforcewindsoressex.com

 

 

Printer Friendly file