Statistics Canada is reporting a sharp drop in agricultural employment, even as the industry frets about a significant gap in workers available for unfilled positions.
The federal agency reported Jan. 10 that employment in agriculture declined by 14,000 workers last year to fewer than 300,000.
It was one of the largest reasons for an unexpected loss of 44,000 jobs in the Canadian economy in December, driving the unemployment rate sharply higher to 7.3 percent.
Ray Bollman, a retired senior agriculture and rural researcher with Statistics Canada now affiliated with the University of Saskatchewan and Brandon University, said the latest numbers raise “more questions than answers.”
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However, he noted that in the midst of the reported decline in farm workers, there was an increase in the number of Alberta males 55 and older claiming agriculture as their primary occupation.
One possible explanation is that higher farm prices and incomes mean that more farmers are returning from off-farm jobs.
It also could reflect the fact that farmers are aging and deciding to stay on the farm longer while prices and incomes are positive.
Bollman said farm self-employment numbers have been increasing in the past two years.
However, the Canadian Agricultural Human Resources Council continues to project that tens of thousands of farm jobs remain unfilled, hurting agricultural and food industry competitiveness.
Tens of thousands of food processing sector jobs were lost last year or projected to be lost this year.
