Just released, Inventory of Services for Immigrants in Calgary

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Shortage of Skilled Workers

The looming shortage of skilled workers will stifle economic growth in Canada. "Over the past 40 years, Canada's economy has been driven by labour market growth" reports the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. A decade ago it grew by up to 3% per year, it dropped to 1.5% per year during the last decade. Now with baby boomers reaching the age of 65, many are leaving the labour force, and the population cohorts that follow are much smaller in number. The growth in labour force would be zero if it were not for skilled immigrants coming to Canada.

The unemployment rate in Calgary fell to 5.2% in February. The Alberta government forecasts a labour shortage of up to 114,000 workers in the next 9 years. Human Services Minister David Hancock says "addressing the labour shortage is a joint responsibility between government and industry". Government can work with schools to ensure that all Albertans are getting the education they need to be productive workers. It can join with the Federal Government to make the immigration process more responsive to the needs of business and provide resources and leadership to industry to identify and train the pools of under-utilized workers in the community.

According to the 2012 Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, 32% of Calgary employers plan to hire staff in the second quarter and none report they plan to cut staff. "I attribute this prosperous hiring pace for the coming months to the activity in the oil and gas sector where we see solid, steady hiring" says Randy Upright, chief executive of Manpower Alberta region. "We are seeing a lot of hiring in all of the supporting industries to oil and gas right now."

The Talent Pool Development Society was formed in 2003 to address the gap between employers having difficulty finding skilled workers and many under-utilized people in Calgary. These under-employed, or unemployed often are young people, mature workers (over 45), Aboriginal people, immigrants and people with disabilities. If all who want to work and have the skills to work were to be fully employed, the labour shortage would be eased, not eliminated.