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Better training of the workforce would be essential to catch up with Quebec in terms of productivity. And especially that of the managers.

It is often noted that Quebec and Canada generally lag behind most other developed economies in terms of productivity, meaning that their companies and their workers generate less wealth per hour worked. The problem becomes even more important when we face a labor shortage, as is the case in Quebec.

The Institut du Québec examined the more specific case of Quebec’s manufacturing sector in a study presented on Wednesday and carried out in collaboration with manufacturers and exporters from Quebec and Fondaction. Both France (+50%), Germany (+50%), Sweden (+71%), the United States (+100%) and Denmark (+128%) performed better than Quebec in terms of productivity in 2018 also applied to neighboring Ontario (+14%).

However, the gap with the latter narrowed by more than half in 2022, reports the institute, thanks to an improvement in the situation in Quebec and a deterioration in that of Ontario. This gap would have to be halved again if we wanted to neutralize the differences due to the relative weight of each manufacturing subsector, with, for example, the transportation sector (more present in Ontario) being more productive than the wood products manufacturing sector (more common in Quebec represent).

In general, much of Canada’s productivity gap compared to other developed countries is due to the fact that SMEs occupy a larger place in its industrial fabric and that large manufacturing companies are 80% more productive than very small ones.

It is recognized that investment in machinery and technology is the basis of productivity, the study reminds. However, the least productive subsectors of Quebec’s manufacturing sector, such as engineering, food and metal products, are among those that invest the least in this area.

This is bad because they are also the ones who have the most difficulty finding the necessary workers. However, the companies that can usually offer the best salaries and working conditions are also the most productive.

To stimulate investment in machinery and technology and help these companies escape this vicious circle, governments have mainly resorted to tax breaks, unfortunately without much success.

“We would do well to pay more attention to improving the skills of workers so that they can better use new technologies and support the green transition,” says the study entitled Train to perform better. We should also start with their managers, because they are the ones who make the important decisions in this area.

There is also talk of automating lower-paying and harder-to-fill jobs and retraining affected workers to take care of maintaining new equipment.

To watch in the video