The CEO of the aerospace supplier, Hugue Meloche, is willing to spend over C$10,000 per skilled foreign worker to fill critical positions in his Montreal-area factories. According to Reuters, this decision is driven by the need to meet increased orders, especially from clients like General Electric, and avoid leaving crucial roles unfilled.
Meloche Group hired 20% of its 500-strong workforce from countries such as Mexico, Tunisia, and Brazil, as clients boosted production in 2022 and added C$1 million cost for a company generating a revenue of C$100 million annually.
Small Suppliers Challenges
Smaller suppliers with limited resources struggle with additional costs, forcing them to cut expenses elsewhere or pass on the charges to customers. This challenge arises as they try to meet the demands of competitive pricing and increased production from aircraft manufacturers like Airbus and Boeing.
Aircraft repair shops and suppliers in North America, especially in Canada, are hiring more foreign workers due to a shortage of manufacturing labor caused by retirements during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. While this helps with staffing needs, it poses a new challenge for small suppliers, as their human resources teams are not typically equipped to assist newcomers with housing and transportation. These difficulties will persist until 2025, as airline and aerospace executives remain cautious about supply chains.
Aerospace Supplier
Meloche's Quebec-based company assists recruits by providing loans and short-term housing. With four dedicated employees, they support newcomers in various aspects, such as finding homes and buying cars. Meloche emphasizes the company's commitment to immigration as a necessity due to significant needs. While plane and engine manufacturers can attract domestic talent with better incentives, recruiters note that they are not entirely unaffected by the challenges of relying less on foreign labor.
Bombardier
Bombardier, a business jet maker with a global workforce of 17,000 and $6.9 billion in 2022 revenue, expects international recruitment to constitute 10% to 15% of its Quebec production workforce in the coming years. Currently employing around 9,400 in Quebec, the company is actively recruiting workers globally, including 40 new hires from Morocco, with additional recruits planned. Airbus' Canadian division acknowledges the need for immigration in meeting recruitment demands, while Boeing notes limited use of U.S. visas for foreign workers. Montreal-based Bombardier facilitates international hires with housing, flights, and other benefits, a practice challenging for smaller suppliers in Quebec's aerospace sector, where most of the 17 companies seeking foreign workers in 2022 are smaller entities, according to data from Canadian recruitment specialist AURAY Sourcing International.
Apartment Hunting
AURAY client services manager Emilie Sauvé mentioned that human resource departments are now tasked with additional responsibilities like apartment hunting. For companies like Meloche, facing employee poaching or departures to plane manufacturers, hiring foreign workers under immigration rules brings the advantage of increased loyalty, as these workers are obligated to stay with the hiring company.
Despite expecting C$135 million in 2023 revenue, Hugue Meloche acknowledges that recent economic challenges ease the labor shortage. However, recruiting foreign workers will continue in Canada's aerospace hub. Compared to their U.S. counterparts, Canadian aerospace companies tend to utilize foreign workers more due to immigration programs that facilitate such hiring. Meanwhile, U.S. aircraft repair companies are also considering foreign workers to address North America's expected shortfall of 43,000 aviation maintenance workers by 2027, as noted by consultant Oliver Wyman. A U.S. trade association for aircraft repair shops is exploring the possibility of special visas for in-demand jobs like aircraft mechanics.
AAR Corp.
According to company vice president Ryan Goertzen, the aircraft maintenance network AAR Corp in Chicago has addressed shortages by recruiting technicians from Mexico under existing visas. While specific figures for foreign aerospace workers in the U.S. were unavailable, Canadian government data shows 125 temporary foreign worker positions for aircraft mechanics last year, compared with 66 in 2019. In Canada, various programs are utilized for recruiting foreign workers, with expectations of higher numbers due to growing demand. The number of aerospace positions targeting international candidates at a Canadian firm has surged by 136% compared to the previous year.
KF Aerospace
In British Columbia's KF Aerospace, about 7% of the workforce comprises workers from countries like South Africa and the Philippines, with 22 apartments for short-term staff housing.
The company has hired 40 skilled foreign workers this year, recognizing the investment of over C$11,000 per worker in relocation and immigration costs as worthwhile to meet the need for skilled workers and mentor local apprentices.
Retention of Skilled Foreign Workers
KF Aerospace's Chief Corporate Services Officer, Grant Stevens, emphasized the importance of retaining skilled foreign workers once hired. He noted that traditional hiring methods, such as simply putting out an ad, are no longer sufficient.
