Main Street in Melfort. (File photo/northeastNOW Staff)

By Aaron Schulze

Employment After CERB

End of CERB and harvest ‘a perfect storm’ for northeast business owners

Aug 7, 2020 | 4:57 PM

Northeast Saskatchewan businesses will be ready to beef up their workforce ahead of the harvest season.

The federal government’s announcement on July 31 that residents on the Canada Response Emergency Benefit (CERB) would be transitioned to the federal Employment Insurance (EI) programs has apparently changed the mood swing for some business owners.

Bringing back former employees and hiring new ones during the summer months hasn’t been as easy as previous years, according to Melfort Trade Alliance President Tyler Fahlman. Even with Phase Four of Re-Open Saskatchewan in full effect.

“A lot of people have decided to stay on CERB as long as they can,” Fahlman said. “Now that it’s ending, it looks like we’re going to be able to get some more good employees back in our businesses to help us go forward.”

With agriculture being the main industry in Melfort and area and multiple locally owned businesses adding staff ahead of harvest, Fahlman is optimistic that the end of CERB on Aug. 29 will help employers in the fall.

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“It is a perfect storm,” he said. “We’re going to get more capable people coming off CERB just at the time we were looking. Being able to find quality staff should be much easier this fall than it has in previous years.”

For residents in the northeast who qualify to transition to EI, Fahlman said most of the Melfort businesses that are affected by the agriculture industry in one way or another can at least provide a liveable wage. Fahlman said some businesses have already begun their hiring processes ahead of harvest. But his business – Fountain Tire in Melfort – for example, typically hires additional staff within the first two weeks of September before harvest is in full swing.

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow