Employers are having a hard time hiring workers, are pushing them to work longer hours, and are rejecting new orders, which is hampering growth for the majority of Canadian businesses, a new study says. Published by the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), the study (pdf) found 55 percent of small and medium-sized businesses in Canada are struggling to hire the workers they need, with 64 percent of entrepreneurs reporting that the labour shortage is limiting their growth. Forty-four percent of the entrepreneurs delayed or failed to deliver orders to their clients. The labour scarcity has led 61 percent of business owners to increase their own or their employees’ work hours, while 49 percent had to provide more wages and benefits. “As the economy recovers, this scarcity of workers is reaching worrying heights, putting economic growth at risk and compromising the competitiveness of Canadian businesses,”said Pierre Cléroux, Vice President Research and Chief …