Group layoffs soar in Alberta

Almost 75 per cent of announced 2015 job cuts related to energy sector

With hundreds more announced job cuts looming, group layoffs in Alberta this year have surpassed 11,000 workers, according to employer data.

Companies are required to notify the province if they intend to terminate 50 or more employees within a four-week period. The government has received 72 such notices affecting 11,399 workers, said Pam Sharpe, a Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour Ministry spokesperson.

For all of 2014, the province received 35 notices involving 7,508 employees.

Of the announced 2015 layoffs, almost 75 per cent were related to the energy sector, while about one quarter involved the retail, food and financial services.

Just this week, Cenovus said it was cutting 300 to 400 office jobs in Calgary.

“I was hopeful by the fall we would have been done (with lay- offs) but I don’t think we are,” said Todd Hirsch, chief economist with ATB Financial.

“I think we still have more layoffs to come in the second half of the year and that might come after Labour Day only because these oil prices have continued to be volatile to the downside and I think there’s still a lot of companies under a lot of cost-cutting pressures.”

Benchmark West Texas Intermediate oil has hovered below $50 US a barrel in recent weeks, settling down $1.40 Friday at $47.12 US.

“I’m expecting now oil prices to remain sort of discouragingly low for the next six to 12 months,” said Hirsch.

Mary Moran, president and CEO of Calgary Economic Development, said it’s not surprising companies are still making moves to “rightsize” their organizations.

“Two things are kind of impacting this. One is the low price environment and the unpredictability of the geopolitical situation with respect to managing supply.

“That’s obviously the big one because it’s having a great impact on the number of employees,” said Moran.

“I think the second thing that’s influencing them is just the need to get further clarification on what the new government of Alberta is going to do around royalty reviews, climate change strategy and to a lesser extent market access.

“The longer that is unknown, it’s going to be increasingly more difficult to attract investment.”

Earlier this year, Enform said as many as 185,000 direct and indirect jobs could be lost in Canada this year due to cutbacks within the energy sector. The industry group’s report said the potential losses would represent a 25 per cent drop in the number of jobs the sector supports.

Moran said it’s important to look at diversification in the economy, which includes areas such as transportation and logistics, finance, agri-food and agri-tech, and innovation.