Young aboriginals will be needed to fill the gaps as the Canadian workforce ages, according to a First Nations study released Monday.

Predictions are that Canada will have more jobs than qualified workers within a few years.

"Aboriginal employment levels, they’ve been slowly increasing but they are still way behind," said Gillian Austin, research co-ordinator for the non-profit Atlantic Aboriginal Economic Development Integrated Program in Dartmouth.

She said employment equity was introduced over 20 years ago but most companies are not required to have employment equity programs or keep track of their hiring of aboriginal employees.

"It is basically saying that not much has changed," Austin said. "We still have the same problems and barriers that we had 20 years ago or longer. Lack of education, racism, and then there is also people not wanting to leave their communities to work."

Aboriginal people of working age will number close to a million, or about 3.4 per cent of the working-age population in Canada by the end of 2017.

The $50,000 study, funded by the federal and Nova Scotia governments, makes several recommendations to improve aboriginal participation in the workforce, including proper education and training of the workers and adequately preparing employers. Also, employers must hold regular cultural sensitivity sessions and diversity training for all employees and be more open to hiring aboriginals by changing their approach to filling job vacancies.

The report also recommends the federal government expand employment equity policies to include companies with fewer than 100 employees, while provincial governments could track and measure aboriginal participation within their own departments.

"We need to continue to build bridges between aboriginal communities and non-aboriginal employers," said Chief Lawrence Paul of the Millbrook First Nation near Truro.

"Also, we need to support our youth as they move from their home communities to pursue education and employment opportunities."

A Canadian Federation of Independent Business study found that in the first quarter of this year, 40 per cent of small firms said they struggled to find employees, Austin said.

In 2003, Michelin Tire started an Aboriginal Workforce Participation Initiative Partnership Agreement with the Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq, the Union of Nova Scotia Indians and the federal and Nova Scotia governments.

Michelin has an aboriginal employment strategy, including a recruitment and retention plan. The strategy also identifies potential business development initiatives that would meet aboriginal community priorities.