Skills crunch gets critical

Canada’s skilled labour shortfall is growing, and nowhere is that more evident than in Alberta, where businesses say languishing job vacancies are impeding their expansion plans.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business said Tuesday that almost 55,000 private sector jobs are unfilled in Alberta.
The percentage of job vacancies – defined as openings vacant at least four months – grew from 2.3 per cent in the second quarter to 2.4 per cent – or about 276,000 full-and part-time jobs – in the July-to-September period, it said.
Hardest hit are the construction (3.7 per cent), hospitality (2.9), agriculture, forestry and fishing oil, gas and mining sectors (2.8).
Alberta and Saskatchewan reported the highest vacancy rates at 3.6 per cent each, while Newfoundland and Labrador (2.8) was also above the national average.
The findings are based on more than 2,500 responses of CFIB members.
“The smallest firms have the highest job vacancy rate and are being hit the hardest by labour and skills shortages,” said Richard Truscott, Alberta director for CFIB.
“The considerably higher rate in Alberta also clearly refutes the assertion by some labour leaders that there isn’t a shortage of qualified labour in our province.”
Tarpon Energy Services Ltd. is among those companies finding it difficult to hire skilled workers.
Julie Sullivan, manager of human resources for Tarpon, said the company has conducted recruiting initiatives and advertising campaigns across Canada.
Unable to find suitable hires, its recruitment strategy during the past year has shifted to finding temporary foreign workers.
“We’ve been going out and going across the world trying to find out where the right markets are and where the pools of individuals are who have the trade skill levels that we require in Alberta for certified tradespeople,” said Sullivan.
The company, whose services include designing and building electrical systems and steel structures for the energy sector, employs 1,450 Canadian staff. More than half are skilled trades including electricians, instrumentation technicians, structural welders and structural fitters.
Company officials last month travelled to Ireland and Scotland as part of Calgary Economic Development’s initiative to attract workers to the city.
“We have probably about 50 electricians in queue to start making it across to Canada in the next quarter,” said Sullivan, adding Tarpon also remains focused on the domestic market.
“In order for us to grow our business, we anticipate that we’re going to need to double our trade workforce in the next couple of years …
“We’re doing what we can on the domestic (front), turning over every rock.”
The province’s labour pressures won’t likely diminish for some time, considering Alberta’s expected economic growth and aging population.
“With the oilsands in particular coming on stream more and more with every passing year, the draw of people from every other sector … is going to become stronger and stronger and making it more and more difficult for employers in other parts of the economy to find qualified people,” said the CFIB’s Truscott.
Ben Brunnen, chief economist with the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, said the job vacancy numbers reflect the province’s strong economy.
“If the global economy remains stable, labour shortages are going to be the single greatest impediment to economic growth confronting Alberta,” he said. “These vacancy numbers demonstrate that.”
Brunnen said Alberta is experiencing its greatest period of net interprovincial migration since 2006, offering some relief.
“We might see a bit of a plateau in terms of the total jobs created right now. So hopefully we’ll see a bit of an alleviation in the next few months of the labour shortage in Alberta.”
Alberta’s unemployment rate last month was 4.5 per cent, compared to 7.4 per cant nationally. It’s finding suitable workers that’s challenging employers.
Ken Vinge, vice-president of corporate development at Bowen Workforce Solutions, said his company has seen a rise in demand for skilled people in the past three to four months.
“What’s interesting is that these are permanent positions. Not your typical temporary or contract positions although we’re seeing an increase in those as well,” said Vinge. “It tells us, we think, that businesses are feeling pretty positive going into 2013.”
He said operations support for the oil and gas industry is a particularly challenging area to find skilled labour including business analysts, purchasing people, engineers, mid-level to senior level managers.