April 16, 2007

Skilled worker shortage major hurdle

Peter Mitham

correspondent

Record numbers of major projects are creating job opportunities around the province, but more action is needed to prevent those opportunities from disappearing. That was the message several speakers delivered to a conference on managing major projects that the Canadian Institute held in Vancouver on April 2-3.

The demand for skilled workers is acute, said Keith Sashaw, president of the Vancouver Regional Construction Association. He said a shortage of supervisors is prompting some companies to turn down work.

The situation is even more serious for Jack Davidson, president of the B.C. Road Builders and Heavy Construction Association. Up to 40 per cent of the members of his association stand to retire in the next five to 10 years, threatening to halt highway development.

“Without new workers, construction of essential infrastructure will be stalled,” he said.

The situation is ironic. While B.C. Minister of Economic Development Colin Hansen touts stats to support the claim that B.C. is creating jobs at twice the rate of China, pointing to a booming economy in which $117 billion in major projects are on the go, the province faces a shortfall of 350,000 new workers over the next 12 years to fill the positions being created.

To make up the shortfall, government and industry will have to develop creative solutions.

The road builders, for instance, have developed a skills-based apprenticeship program that is now serving as a model for similar programs under development elsewhere in Canada as well as in Asia.

Sashaw said high schools are now fertile ground for recruiters, while First Nations communities have been a trove of fresh talent. The Vancouver Aboriginal Skills Employment Partnership has screened 800 applicants in recent months, trained 400 successful candidates, and seen 250 of them find jobs. But Sashaw said that meeting the skills shortage demands not just fresh blood for the industry but fresh ways of doing things. He expects technology to play a greater role on job sites, raising skills requirements for workers but reducing the demand for manpower.

But no number of government-sponsored training, employment and immigration programs will solve the labour shortage if industry doesn’t create opportunities for apprentices, said Jim Sinclair, president of the B.C. Federation of Labour.

During a recent trip to Kamloops, Sinclair found just 33 apprentices in the city. The majority –31 – were at the local mine. Other employers, including the university, had none.

Sinclair said that’s not a good option if it means industry simply poaches employees away from similarly strapped employers. He urged employers to cultivate a pool of apprentices that will supply their future needs.

Philip Hochstein, president of the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association, agreed, describing the B.C. construction sector as “just-in-time trainers.” While he disagreed with Sinclair on several points, the two agreed that the labour shortage is a long-term issue.

“There’s no silver bullet to this labour shortage that will be with us and the rest of the world for a very long time,” Hochstein said.

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