Losing labour to low wages

[steve mc]

inceased wages are not the problem, property flipping,realators,numbered companies,washing drug profits in speculation, are the problem with housing costs

[MAPearce]

inceased wages are not the problem,

You're right ... sort of .

LOW wages ARE the problem ...

IF people made enough to live here , they WOULD ..

Straight up bud.

[steve mc]

any tradesman with skills should get 35-50dollars a hour just to get by.

[phasyluck]

Couldn't imagine moving back to Kelowna for what I would be paid in my trade....I'd be homeless in 6 months. Alberta average for my flat rate pay is double or more, Kelowna you manage to live somehow but you don't get ahead which is what many bosses seem to prefer. The window for physical labourer isn't huge because the body and mind wears sick of it.....most skilled guys are a touch older and should be paid accordingly, but theres always some young superstar who wants to live the fake Kelowna dream making way less.

[60-YEARS-in-Ktown]

Some employers seem to prefer constant turnover to paying a realistic wage..
But then again it's usually a manager doing the dirty work or heavy lifting not them..'

[Jhunter199]

My personal experience is you get what you pay for...

Unfortunately, many employers, not just in the trades, but in business in general don't really understand the concept of financial management. Instead just pay lower wages, use the cheapest supplies, and charge the highest price someone will pay. All the while dealing with sub-par employee's, a mediocre product, and battling every other comparable company for market share.
A great skilled employee will make their wage back for you quicker, easier, and less stressful more times than not.

[AlienSoldier]

Increasing labour rates will increase costs, which will raise the cost of housing and....TADA! Your back to housing being the problem again in Kelowna.

Horseshat.... Paying a good wage to the workers who make the select few a TONNE of loot is a long , lost idea here .....

Sad really ... Because , now , the select few are scrambling for workers .

Lets put it in perspective: you are a builder who buys land at 100,000. Your current build cost for a house is 200,000 (75,000 labour, 125,000 material) and you expect profits of 20% so you are going to sell for (100,000 + 200,000)x 20% = 360,000.

Your labour cost went up because of labour shortages so you pay an extra 20% in salaries to build on time and keep good workers. Your land cost did not change, so now your costs are 100,000 plus build cost (75,000 x 20% plus 125,000 material) = 215,000. You still want to make your 20% profit because you put the money up and took the risk (markets could crash tomorrow and employees can walk away with you holding the bag. so your final cost to sell the house is now (100,000 + 215,000) x 20% = 378,000

Housing cost will go up if trade costs that build it go up.

Kelowna's big problem is that it thinks its a small sleepy town where people come to farm and rest. If you want good paying jobs the councillors should be investing in brining companies that manufacture, adding value added products which you sell for higher prices outside the City so you can pay your employees higher.

[Snowbound]

Lets put it in perspective: you are a builder who buys land at 100,000. Your current build cost for a house is 200,000 (75,000 labour, 125,000 material) and you expect profits of 20% so you are going to sell for (100,000 + 200,000)x 20% = 360,000.

Your labour cost went up because of labour shortages so you pay an extra 20% in salaries to build on time and keep good workers. Your land cost did not change, so now your costs are 100,000 plus build cost (75,000 x 20% plus 125,000 material) = 215,000. You still want to make your 20% profit because you put the money up and took the risk (markets could crash tomorrow and employees can walk away with you holding the bag. so your final cost to sell the house is now (100,000 + 215,000) x 20% = 378,000

Housing cost will go up if trade costs that build it go up.

Kelowna's big problem is that it thinks its a small sleepy town where people come to farm and rest. If you want good paying jobs the councillors should be investing in brining companies that manufacture, adding value added products which you sell for higher prices outside the City so you can pay your employees higher.[/quote]

Not to mention the cost of the lot and building materials will go up with increased wages as well. So more likely to push the home to the $400k mark.

I agree, get some good industry jobs here and open up more land for home development. More supply will lower the prices. Taxing everyone to death is not the answer.

I will give a good example from my past: I lived in a small town - 12000 pop that was know as a retirement town, and the city advertised as such. No jobs for the young people unless you were lucky enough to get into the assisted living hospital. So all the young people leave town to find work, or stay and work minimum wage retail, etc. Sound familiar?

So new city council gets voted in and starts to attract industry via tax breaks to those corporations. Good paying jobs are created for the young people. Young families start to move into town. New schools are built (more jobs created - construction, teachers, maintenance guys, etc.). Property taxes go down due to a larger tax base from industry. Nobody complains about the corporate tax breaks because it benefits the community as a whole.

25 years later, this little town is over 20,000 population and thriving. Surrounding cities are struggling and have not grown hardly at all since I left 25 years ago.

Shows what a forward looking city council can do. I wish our federal and provincial governments would have that same vision, instead of driving all industry out of Canada due to increasing taxes and regulations.

[AlienSoldier]

To add to the above, Farmland needs to start paying more for taxes, water and hydro. It is not a big industry builder and is actually chocking off large companies from moving in. Its hard for large manufacturing sites to move in when the distance they have to move from site to site is blocked by farms.

[lesliepaul]

I thought the huge Okanagan wine industry provided lots of employment? They do, but how many people employed in this industry make a wage that allows them to qualify for a mortgage. Short of the "Ben Stewarts" and maybe 5% of the wineries top people...........95% are paid S%#T!

As was mentioned earlier on, replacing the manufacturing that has been lost here should be the number one priority. The Kelowna "Tech" industry is basically a "mom and pop" operation with "mom and pop" making the GOOD money and paying their employees S%#T. Saying this industry is worth a BILLION $$$ to Kelowna is a crock of S%#T spewed out of the yap of our "man-child" mayor.

[kgcayenne]

Kelowna's big problem is that it thinks its a small sleepy town where people come to farm and rest. If you want good paying jobs the councillors should be investing in brining companies that manufacture, adding value added products which you sell for higher prices outside the City so you can pay your employees higher.

There used to be more manufacturing companies, the city didn't care to work hard at keeping them? They moved out a long time ago. Most people don't even know local companies manufactured RVs, houseboats, transport trucks, safety equipment... I be there was a lot more, too.

[seewood]

There used to be more manufacturing companies, the city didn't care to work hard at keeping them? They moved out a long time ago

Kenworth did not like the fact White trucks assembled in Kelowna were a preferred truck so they (Kenworth) bought the company and promptly shut it down. It's the American way. They( US) did the same with STELCO back east. Huge employer White was. To get something like that back is going to be a stretch I believe.

[MAPearce]

Kenworth did not like the fact White trucks assembled in Kelowna were a preferred truck so they (Kenworth) bought the company and promptly shut it down. It's the American way.

I think you mean Freightliner ( Daimler Chrysler ) bought out Western Star and moved it to Portland ...

[steve mc]

the wine industry is blended california grapes and tfw if it was such a big deal why is there so much empty farm land.

[put-for-dough]

Problem is greed. Period!! Greedy employers and I have an ok job but time to leave, because even my okay job doesn't cut it in Miser land. I have no pity for those who are losing contracts and cant find decent employees because they are so cheap.