It's being called the perfect storm for business in Saskatchewan.

"We have lots of people unemployed, lots of jobs available, but they're not eligible for those jobs. They don't have the skills," said Steve McLellan, the CEO of the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce.

There is no question about it, Saskatchewan has a labour shortage, he said.

"It's a labour market match challenge. Right now we have lots of folks who are unemployed or underemployed, but they don't have the skills for the jobs that are there. This is where the key challenge for Saskatchewan lies."

Business and government have to make sure there is a strategy in place to correct the problem, McLellan said. One of his goals is to have a program that will allow someone who is underemployed to be retrained into a position that is vacant.

"To take somebody who is underemployed today into a training program that in two years will make them the person that the employment opportunity fits. We don't have that right now," he said.

The Saskatchewan government recently headed two job fairs in Ireland in the hopes of attracting skilled-labourers to this province.

gbauman@rawlco.com

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