Latest news with #labourShortage
The National
12-06-2025
- Politics
- The National
Trump admits immigration sweeps are causing labour shortage in farming and hotels
President Donald Trump conceded on Thursday that his 'very aggressive ' immigration policies are causing labour shortages in farming and hotels. Mr Trump said he would soon issue a 'common sense' order that would protect those two industries. 'Our farmers are being hurt badly, they have very good workers,' he said. 'They've worked for them for 20 years. They're not citizens, but they turn out to be, you know, great, and we have to do something about that.' Earlier on Thursday, Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that nationwide raids on people in the country without documentation is also hurting hotel and service business too. 'Our great farmers and people in the hotel and leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long-time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace,' he wrote. 'Changes are coming.' The comments were a stunning reversal for a president who ran on a campaign promise to conduct the largest deportation operation in the country's history. They also come amid worsening national tension, after he sent thousands of armed troops to Los Angeles to quell protests that erupted at the weekend over his administration's anti-immigration policies. The protests ignited after immigration agents went to the car park of a hardware shop where day labourers are known to gather. On the campaign trail, Mr Trump said he would focus on criminals and gang members, and that he would seal the southern border shut. Since he took office this year, immigration agents have conducted sweeping operations on restaurants, building sites and businesses, detaining hundreds of people, many without criminal records, and in some cases those in the country legally. The effort has largely affected Latin American migrants, many of whom are in the country illegally, and yet are indispensable – albeit underpaid – workers in the farming, building and service industries across much of the country. The arrests and deportations, often without due process, have separated families and deeply hurt communities. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the nation has 'a very broken labour system' and that it was a matter of national security for it to be fixed. 'We have to make sure our workforce is legal and is here legally,' Ms Rollins told CNBC on Thursday. 'But the President understands that we can't feed our nation or the world without that labour force, and he's listening to the farmers, which I really appreciate.' On Thursday, Democratic Senator Alex Padilla from California was forcibly removed from a news conference in Los Angeles after he tried to question Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was in the city to address the continuing protests and promote federal law enforcement's immigration crackdown efforts. Mr Padilla said he had concerns with that effort. 'I am Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary,' he said, as men in plain clothes rushed towards him and pushed him out of the room. He said he was briefly handcuffed and detained but was later released.
Reuters
12-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Japan's labour crunch forces rethink on traditional homemakers
TOKYO, June 12 (Reuters) - Japan's labour shortage is forcing its conservative lawmakers to consider overhauling decades-old social welfare rules originally designed to encourage married women to spend more hours looking after the home. Policymakers are expected to pass legislation on Friday that would require part-time workers to pay into pension and health-insurance schemes, essentially scaling back exemptions now seen as a major disincentive for women to work longer hours or advance their careers. Introduced in 1986 during Japan's economic boom, the exemptions apply to "dependent" spouses who earn less than 1.3 million yen ($9,028) a year, as part of an expansion of social welfare at the time. While the proposed reforms are aimed at easing a current workers crunch in Japan, they would not completely scrap a system that many argue is both unproductive and a product of outdated gender expectations. Businesses and analysts now say the economic pressures created by the current worker crunch outweigh historic concerns about ensuring all "housewives", no longer a majority of married women, were covered by the pension scheme. "From the standpoint of labour economics, it's an irrational system that not only restricts the supply of high-quality female labour forces but also serves to limit pressure for wage growth," Nobuko Nagase, professor at Otsuma Women's University. Japan's labour shortage is hitting historic levels, particularly among non-manufacturers and small firms, driven by a rapidly aging and declining population. Businesses complain the existing pension scheme makes it extremely difficult to fill shortages with part-time workers who wish to limit annual pay below the thresholds. The Japan Association of Corporate Executives, a major business lobby, this week renewed its call for the abolition of the system. "We urge the government for an immediate review," it said in its policy proposal. "It is necessary to revise the conventional system design that is based on the full-time homemaker ideal." But while arguments to get rid of the system have broadened, the appetite among conservative lawmakers for deeper reform has been mixed. The bill has broad parliamentary support and in its current form effectively requires most part-timers who work more than 20 hours a week to pay into corporate pension and health-insurance schemes regardless of income levels and company size. According to the welfare ministry, the changes, to be implemented in phases, would mean about 900,000 part-time women would start paying insurance fees, shrinking the pool of about 6.7 million dependent spouses, 98% of whom are women. But the bill still preserves the system for dependent spouses, stating bigger changes would require "a national debate" and more research. "In the latest pension system reform, we were unable to reach a consensus," Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told parliament last week. "There are various people eligible under this system, not only full-time housewives but also those who are unable to work due to illness, childcare, or nursing responsibilities," he said. In December, Ishiba argued the system should not be completely dismissed. "Full-time housewives aren't the type of people living a leisurely life of naps and diligently protect their homes and manage a wide range of responsibilities," he said. Although the government will subsidise the costs temporarily, the 20-hour threshold could simply prompt dependent spouse part-timers to limit their working hours, some say. Maiko Takahashi, 45-year-old mother of three children, said she would choose to remain as a dependent spouse with her two part-time jobs. "I would rather limit work hours instead of having to pay insurance fees, because I also want to spend enough time with my children," she said. "But I always felt it's a strange system. Why do they discourage those who want to work more?" she added. The debate about dependent spouses goes back to 2000, when a government panel was set up to see if pension schemes could better reflect demographic changes. By then, dual-income households already outnumbered families with full-time housewives. The fairness of the scheme has also been questioned because those married to self-employed workers are not exempt from insurance fees. Japan's largest trade union umbrella group Rengo, as well as top business lobbying groups, want more aggressive reform, calling for ditching the dependent spouse system. The system "is disturbing the development of women's careers and causing a gender wage gap," the 7-million member Rengo group said. Tomoko Yoshino, the first female chief of Rengo, said she began to believe the system needed change in the early 1990s, when the economic boom burst and dual-income households increased. "Despite the sense of unfairness shared among women, the issue unfortunately failed to reach decision-making levels at the group for discussions in the past, partly because of the very limited presence of women at those levels," she said. Nagase, professor at Otsuma Women's University, said the reform has to come with a shift in the mindset of employers who still see part-time female workers as a source of cheap labour and supplementary to male workers. Wages for part-time workers are very low compared with those for regular workers and opportunities for promotion are limited, Nagase said. "A failure to tap full potential of those workers would be a loss for the Japanese economy as labour shortages intensify," she said. ($1 = 143.9900 yen)
News.com.au
10-06-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Australia's construction industry faces labour shortages and price rises
Arcadis National Director Matthew Mackey discusses the construction industry's rising costs amid labour shortages across Australia. 'Generally, what we have seen, pretty much since the pandemic is costs have risen, pretty much exponentially, well above long-term trends,' Mr Mackey told Sky News Australia. 'We are beginning to see that settle a bit now, so costs are still above average, but they are rising at, let's say, a less significant pace than they have been.'
Free Malaysia Today
09-06-2025
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
Job of last resort puts further strain on Malaysia's palm sector
Skilled harvesters use hand-held sickles attached to long poles to cut down fruit from trees that can weigh as much as 25kg. KUALA LUMPUR : Malaysia's palm oil industry is grappling with a dwindling labour pool as workers increasingly shun physically demanding jobs at plantations, a trend that threatens to exacerbate production woes in the major grower. The sector has become the 'last choice' for foreign labourers – the backbone of the industry – and locals, who view the work as dirty, dangerous and difficult, said Roslin Azmy Hassan, the head of the Malaysian Palm Oil Association, an industry group. 'Many are choosing jobs in urban areas,' he added. 'It's a Herculean task faced by all the plantation companies,' Roslin said in an interview in Kuala Lumpur, referring to difficulties attracting labour. 'We have been pushing hard for mechanisation, but the key work is harvesting. 'There's no machine that's able to achieve the productivity of a human being,' he added. Labour issues, along with low productivity from old trees and crop disease, are crimping output growth in the world's second-biggest grower. Roslin estimates that these factors are leading to revenue losses of as much as RM11 billion (US$2.6 billion) each year for the Malaysian palm oil industry. Palm is the world's most widely used vegetable oil and can be found in products from chocolate to cosmetics and biofuel, but the broader sector continues to be plagued by production issues. Top grower Indonesia has even turned to tiny bugs from Africa in an effort to boost output. Roslin said replanting costs have surged in recent years, discouraging smaller Malaysian operators from replenishing their palm plantations, while a fungus that causes stem rot has doubled its spread since 2017 to around 14% of the nation's planted area. He expects output will climb to 19.7 million tonnes this year, slightly higher than 2024, but still below pre-pandemic levels. Malaysia's plantations suffered their worst-ever labour shortage during the pandemic as border curbs halted the flow of people from countries including Indonesia and Bangladesh, crimping production. Since then, the sector has struggled to boost its foreign workforce to pre-Covid levels. The industry is trialling the use of robots to mechanise some parts of estate operations, but collecting palm bunches is still very much a manual job. Skilled harvesters use hand-held sickles attached to long poles to cut down fruit from trees that can weigh as much as 25kg. 'I don't know how long it's going to last, but things are getting more and more difficult,' said Roslin, referring to labour issues. 'It's a big struggle not only to entice workers, but also to keep them,' he added.
CTV News
27-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Quebec pharmacists facing same private agency problem as nurses: AQPP
The Quebec pharmacy owners' association (AQPP) argues that pharmacists are in the same boat as nurses when it comes to private employment agencies. The AQPP says it is speaking out before the situation gets completely out of hand. 'There are a lot of similarities with the problems of the independent workforce with nurses. It's the same phenomenon,' said AQPP President Benoit Morin. 'There are replacement agencies that recruit pharmacists from pharmacies, hire them, then afterwards offer them to pharmacist owners in exchange for replacements, but this creates gaps. Every time they recruit a pharmacist, there's one less pharmacist in the network.' The association has declared Tuesday a day without using replacement agencies. In doing so, it says it is aiming to raise awareness among the government and its agencies about the crisis in the pharmaceutical network. The Association des bannières et des chaînes de pharmacies du Québec, which includes major chains like Brunet, Familiprix, Jean Coutu and Uniprix, seconed the AQPP's message. 'Pharmacists have always used replacement agencies to fill occasional needs,' said Morin. However, over the past five years or so, the labour shortage has become 'artificially accentuated,' he said, and more pharmacists are deciding to do replacement work rather than invest in themselves. In 2024, one million hours of replacement work were carried out in Quebec's pharmacies, and the AQPP says it fears the number will continue to rise exponentially if nothing is done. The situation could jeopardize the development of front-line clinical care, warns the association. The current vacancy rate in community pharmacy is 12 per cent, compared with three per cent in the rest of the province, all sectors combined. The AQPP has calculated a shortfall of 1,150 full- and part-time pharmacists in Quebec. Morin says the province's Health Ministry is 'very aware of the phenomenon.' 'At first, a few years ago, I said to myself: we're private companies, we have to manage our workforce ourselves, we're good at that, but I admit that right now, we're a bit, at the association, at the end of our resources. I think it's going to take outside help from the government or elsewhere to help us curb this phenomenon,' he said. Morin says he is not opposed to the idea of legislation to regulate the use of replacement pharmacists. 'We're not ruling anything out,' he said. In 2023, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government passed a law to limit the use of independent labour agencies in the health and social services network. This did not include pharmacies. After criticism from establishments saying they were unable to continue offering optimal care without nurses from private agencies, Health Minister Christian Dubé said he would give them more time to get organized. The regulations are currently being applied gradually, region by region, until October 2026. This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on May 27, 2025. The Canadian Press health content receives funding through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. The Canadian Press is solely responsible for editorial choices.
