Calgary | A Job Nirvana

Labour supply is the number-two concern of companies surveyed by Calgary Economic Development, says President and CEO Bruce Graham. Their number-one concern is the jittery world economy, but that’s a fret for the global pace of business that drives oil prices, rather than for the local economy.

What business leaders most want is help to attract the nearly 200,000 workers Calgary is projected to need over the next decade. “Our number-one mission is creating awareness around the employment and job opportunities here in Calgary and Alberta,” Graham says.

And that has led to the Be Part of the Energy initiative launched with the support of 42 Calgary corporate partners.

Crude prices that fell to as low as $34 per barrel in the midst of the 2009 recession, rapidly recovered to $72 and then climbed to $101 by January of $2011, where they’ve held steady.

Calgary unemployment levels are now below five per cent, as oil companies gear up and other sectors catch the lift from the oil patch, Graham says. Housing starts have soared 68 per cent, from 6,318 in 2009 to 9,292 in 2011, and building permits have risen from $2.7 billion in 2010 to $4.5 billion in 2011. The city’s sales of industrial land reached $71 million in 2011, more than doubling projections.

In the worst-case scenario, with continued low natural gas prices and a prolonged slump in oil prices, the Petroleum Human Resources Council estimates that the oil industry will need at least 39,000 skilled workers to replace retiring members of the boomer generation over the next decade. Best case, the industry will need about 140,000 workers to fill retirements and new jobs created by continuing strong oil prices and a recovery in natural gas…

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Read More @ Insatiable appetite for workers in Calgary’s hot economy.