To meet future labour market challenges, the Yukon government will conduct a multi-staged public engagement to develop a future Yukon labour market strategy.

Engagement will seek to define the priorities, challenges and opportunities faced by the Yukon labour market, the government said in late March.

Like many jurisdictions across Canada and around the world, the Yukon is experiencing a continuing labour shortage.

“Yukoners’ perspectives will help create an approach to address labour market challenges, identify policy responses and guide government programing, better positioning the territory to be a jurisdiction where Yukoners can find jobs and where business needs are met,” the government said in a statement.

Saying it recognizes that this is “a wide-reaching issue of great importance to many,” the government will begin its engagement by conducting targeted engagement with partners and key stakeholders.

The targeted engagement sessions will involve speaking with public and private sector employers, First Nations governments, communities, stakeholder groups and workers and individuals in and out of the labour market.

They will include underrepresented or equity seeking groups, as well as unions and industry organizations.

Once targeted engagements are complete, a public survey will be available to all Yukoners on engageyukon.ca in fall 2024. A What We Heard report will be published afterward.

Information collected from the engagement will help inform the future strategy, as will ongoing research of best practices, which is being conducted by the Department of Economic Development.

“We’re looking forward to hearing from partners, stakeholders and Yukoners as we establish new processes for setting labour market priorities, and adapt programs to address the significant economic, demographic and cultural shifts that have occurred in Yukon’s labour landscape in the past several years,” said Premier Ranj Pillai, who is also the minister of Economic Development.

“I encourage Yukoners to participate in the survey when it is available.

“Your thoughts, concerns and ideas will help us prepare for the workplaces and labour market of tomorrow.”

The unemployment rate in the Yukon has been consistently lower than the national average.

In January, the Yukon’s unemployment rate was 4.9 per cent, compared to Canada’s 5.7 per cent.

Despite this, according to the Yukon Employment and Skills Survey and Labour Market Demand Survey, the number of working age Yukoners not actively engaged in the labour market exceeds the number of posted unfilled jobs in the Yukon.

Pillai’s 2023 mandate letter for Economic Development includes addressing labour challenges by beginning consultation on a new labour market strategy.

This engagement contributes to this ongoing work.