A labour shortage has been felt across Canada, with that beginning when the pandemic ended and businesses could open up.

Saskatchewan's latest job numbers put it at 4% unemployment, which takes the spot of second lowest in the country.

The shortage has had an effect on businesses - with many having to alter hours or not be able to provide services as they could normally.

Tim Jenish, the owner and operator of the McDonald's in Estevan, says that getting people on staff is difficult in this market.

"It's quite difficult. The standards that we have to meet with McDonald's in terms of staff, to try to hire the right number of people in a very tight labour market is difficult. People, when they're looking for a job, have certain expectations."

"When they're going to be able to work and when they want to take time off. Sometimes we get little to no notice about people not being able to make their shifts. So we're scrambling to try to get proper coverage so we can serve the needs of our customers."

Balancing employee needs and the needs of the store can be difficult, with Jenish saying the best they can do is try to adapt to changes as they come.

"It's a tough thing to balance when you're trying to balance the needs of the employee along with the needs of the store. Sometimes, quite frankly, we're not able to meet the needs of the employee or the needs of the store. It's frustrating, but it's the way things are today and we're trying to adapt and make it easy for the person to want to work for us while meeting the needs of our customers."

Inflation has also been tough on the restaurants, as they try to balance raising prices to cover costs and keeping them low enough that people will still buy 

"The cost of food is no different for us than it is for you going to the local grocery store to pick up your pound of hamburger, or your pork chops, or potatoes. We're faced with the same increases and we have to be able to try and make sure we're able to recover some of the costs through pricing," said Jenish, "But we realize that if we go too hard on the pricing, it really affects our customers and what they're able to spend on dining out."

"It's really tough because in some cases wages aren't keeping up with the cost of food, and inflation really is having a huge impact on us."