Just for you information ........................ thats why i say try to move to Alberta during ur studies ................
EDMONTON — Barring another global recession — a critical, albeit unpredictable factor — Alberta is likely heading into its most severe labour crunch in history.
With the provincial economy expanding by 5.2 per cent in 2011 — tops in Canada — and oil prices showing signs of stabilizing after a recent soft patch, all signs point to a hot summer ahead.
Job growth is already surging, with 80,000 new positions created over the past year, while the number of provincial employment insurance claimants is plunging.
“We’ve had somewhat of a respite from (labour shortages) in the past year and a half because of the economic downturn,” says Ken Kobly, CEO of the Alberta Chambers of Commerce, and a panellist at a Tuesday seminar on labour issues hosted by the Montreal-based Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP).
“But I’d suggest that the coming years will make the previous shortages look like a cakewalk. The only thing that’s sprouting more than dandelions in Nisku, the service centre for the oilpatch in Alberta, are the signs saying help wanted.”
Indeed, the pressures are growing fast. Alberta’s jobless rate, which spiked during the recession, is now the lowest in Canada (tied with Saskatchewan at 4.9 per cent), and wages are leading the country by a wide margin.
The average Alberta worker’s weekly pay totalled $1,056.87 in March, according to ATB Financial Economics. That’s nearly 20 per cent above the Canadian average, and up 3.3 per cent over the previous year.
Given that, it’s no surprise that job seekers are again flocking to Alberta, pushing up house prices in Calgary and Edmonton and boosting sales of everything from cars and flat-screen TVs to restaurant meals.
Leslie Seidle, the IRPP’s research director, says the flow of permanent immigrants to Alberta has nearly doubled over the past decade, to nearly 30,500 in 2011, even as Canada’s overall immigration numbers flatlined at about 250,000 per year.
Even so, the surge of newcomers isn’t expected to keep pace with demand in the years to come. As baby boomers retire and resource projects ramp up in other provinces, fewer workers are expected to migrate to Alberta to find jobs, even as another boom gathers momentum.
As the Journal noted in a special report published in March, the province estimates that more than 600,000 new jobs will be created in Alberta by 2021, resulting in a net shortage of 114,000 workers.
Much of that growth will be driven by the oilsands, where about $22 billion per year of new capital spending is expected through 2015, roughly 20 per cent above the last peak in 2007-2008.
Which explains why a coalition of Alberta business groups have been pressing the feds to speed up the flow of skilled tradespeople and experienced labourers to the province, even as the Redford government pushes for more workers under the provincial nominee program.
Ottawa has reacted, announcing plans to reform both the immigration system and employment insurance. Still, there is no “magic bullet” for the labour crunch that’s looming, says Anne McLellan, Canada’s former federal Liberal energy minister, and an IRPP board member.
Among other things, McLellan says Alberta needs to make far better use of the labour pool it already has, especially when it comes to the aboriginal population, where adult jobless rates are high and school attendance levels are often shockingly low, as a recent piece by Journal reporter Elise Stolte documented.
“In this province — and we’re not unique — we waste human capital. We have too many people who are under- employed, whose skills or credentials have not been acknowledged or certified, and therefore are not being utilized,” says McLellan, who also sits on the board of Calgary-based Nexen Inc.
“Alberta’s aboriginal population can be, must be, should be a huge asset and resource both socially and economically for this province ... I think we’re smart enough to know that this is an economic and a social imperative, and we are missing an important part of our labour force, our workforce for the future, if we cannot figure out how to deal with this challenge.”
Read more: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/Lamphier+Help+wanted+signs+sprout+like+dandelions/6741416/story.html#ixzz1x8ILtu1a
