West Coast Connection Forum

Lifestyle => Train of Thought => Topic started by: Lincoln on March 11, 2006, 06:33:34 PM

Title: Alberta: Help Wanted, badly
Post by: Lincoln on March 11, 2006, 06:33:34 PM
Alberta: Help Wanted, badly

By PATRICK BRETHOUR AND DAWN WALTON,  From Saturday's Globe and Mail

Calgary — With $500 signing bonuses and free trips to Mexico on offer, Kevin Dahl managed to land 20 workers for his restaurant's opening this week in south Calgary.

That is no small accomplishment in Alberta — where the unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level in at least 30 years, according to Statistics Canada — but Mr. Dahl is still short 10 workers, leaving him scrambling to get Avocado Fresh Mexican Grill up and running in its first week of operation.

Avocado's pitfalls are a distilled version of the entire province's economy, which is growing so fast that the ranks of the unemployed have been reduced far below what economists deem to be full employment — a situation in which any worker who wants a job can find one. Economists believe the Canadian economy reaches that point when the unemployment rate falls below 6 per cent; Alberta's rate is now only half that.

A tough labour market for employers? “ Very tough,” Mr. Dahl says with a laugh.

According to Statscan figures released yesterday, Alberta's unemployment rate dropped to just 3.1 per cent in February, less than half the national average and the lowest such figure that Statscan has in its 30-year database. The province's labour market hasn't been so stretched since the summer of 1981, the height of the last oil boom.

On the other side of the equation are workers such as Jose Ortiz, an unemployed welder who flew out to Calgary last week from Ontario, convinced that he will land a job and taste some of Alberta's prosperity — and soon. “It's impossible it will take more than two weeks,” says Mr. Ortiz, who could not find work in his home province. “Ontario was too difficult.”

Skilled-trades workers such as Mr. Ortiz have been in high demand in Alberta for years, but now the province is running out of most every other kind of worker: hotel maids, newspaper carriers, coffee-house cashiers and, in Avocado's case, kitchen cooks.

Over the past year, Ken Vinge, vice-president of business development at Calgary-based Bowen Workforce Solutions Inc., has seen a real desperation among employers searching for skilled employees, while workers are quick to quit as better opportunities come along.

“We are really at full employment. In fact we're at negative unemployment. There just aren't enough people to fill the jobs,” he said.

According to the Alberta government, 56.3 per cent of employers said they had trouble finding staff last year, up from 51.5 per cent in 2003.

The sense of desperation is palpable in Alberta's hospitality sector, which employs about 36,000 in positions ranging from housekeepers to managers. But another 10,000 positions remain unfilled, according to Dave Kaiser, president and chief executive officer of the Alberta Hotel and Lodging Association.

“Hotels will put on ‘no vacancy' signs because there's no staff to clean the rooms,” Mr. Kaiser said.

Even though Alberta is experiencing an enormous economic boom, the lack of workers is holding the province back from even higher growth, said Benjamin Tal, senior economist at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. He said the tight labour market will reduce growth by a full percentage point, costing the Alberta economy $4.5-billion.

The problem is likely to get worse, with the province projecting a shortfall of 100,000 workers over the next decade within the skilled-trades sector alone.

The drop in unemployment has triggered a bidding war among businesses. The average hourly wage in Alberta jumped to $21.39 in 2005, up from $19.68 in 2003. Although that number includes many high-paying jobs, wage inflation is reaching down into the lower end of the job market.

http://ctv2.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060311.wxalberta0311/business/Business/businessBN/ctv-business

Fucking nuts.
Title: Re: Alberta: Help Wanted, badly
Post by: big mat on March 12, 2006, 06:25:20 AM
one of my friend move there 2 years ago, he's only 22 years old, got a secondary 5, and he's making 100 000 a year, he is rollin in lincoln pick up truck
Title: Re: Alberta: Help Wanted, badly
Post by: Lincoln on March 12, 2006, 06:38:37 AM
one of my friend move there 2 years ago, he's only 22 years old, got a secondary 5, and he's making 100 000 a year, he is rollin in lincoln pick up truck

That's crazy, what does he do out there?
I'm thinking about taking a couple years off school and going out there to make some money.
Title: Re: Alberta: Help Wanted, badly
Post by: coola on March 12, 2006, 11:25:05 AM
where is alberta ?
Title: Re: Alberta: Help Wanted, badly
Post by: Lincoln on March 12, 2006, 12:21:45 PM
where is alberta ?


Western Canada.
Title: Re: Alberta: Help Wanted, badly
Post by: Lincoln on March 12, 2006, 12:22:25 PM
(http://www.organ-donation-works.org/National/Images/Map%20Canada.gif)
Title: Re: Alberta: Help Wanted, badly
Post by: big mat on March 12, 2006, 02:57:51 PM
he was working for a oil cie but now he got his own
Title: Re: Alberta: Help Wanted, badly
Post by: Suga Foot on March 12, 2006, 02:58:20 PM
2 of my friends are working on oil rigs right now in northern ab.  theyre gonna make 50,000 in 6 months


personally, you couldnt pay me enough to live in alberta.  I'll never leave Vancouver
Title: Re: Alberta: Help Wanted, badly
Post by: Shallow on March 12, 2006, 05:05:09 PM
2 of my friends are working on oil rigs right now in northern ab.  theyre gonna make 50,000 in 6 months



Did they just apply and move there or were they part of some company? Also, what did they need to get the jobs?


I wouldn't mind giving it a shot. Toronto isn't all that great.
Title: Re: Alberta: Help Wanted, badly
Post by: Westcoastin' on March 12, 2006, 06:56:37 PM
Yea, iv got buddies out workin on the rigs there now....they're making insane amounts of money, because theres nothin to do around there...they end up workin 6 or 7 days a week, 12 hour+ days....free room and board

i was thinkin of going just to do a 2 month camp, pay for my school for the year and get a trip at spring break
Title: Re: Alberta: Help Wanted, badly
Post by: Lincoln on March 12, 2006, 07:17:04 PM
I think the craziest part is this:

"Even though Alberta is experiencing an enormous economic boom, the lack of workers is holding the province back from even higher growth."

That is just insanity. And it's good for the whole country. Now people from the East are moving to Alberta and sending the money back home, which is in turn bumping up their economy. Thanks Alberta eh...
Title: Re: Alberta: Help Wanted, badly
Post by: Suga Foot on March 12, 2006, 09:16:08 PM
2 of my friends are working on oil rigs right now in northern ab.  theyre gonna make 50,000 in 6 months



Did they just apply and move there or were they part of some company? Also, what did they need to get the jobs?


I wouldn't mind giving it a shot. Toronto isn't all that great.

they had to apply and get accepted I think.  They worked in construction for 5 years prior.
Title: Re: Alberta: Help Wanted, badly
Post by: Westcoastin' on March 13, 2006, 07:54:17 AM
some of the companies give random drug tests, one of my friends got tossed....he said they filled 3 buses full of people that they kicked out of camp
Title: Re: Alberta: Help Wanted, badly
Post by: Bramsterdam (see ya) on March 13, 2006, 08:19:20 AM
Right after highschool Im headin out to Edmonton for uni or college, my favourite place in Canada