Video-game industry looks to import staff
OTTAWA — Canada’s video game industry is suffering from a “critical labour gap” that must be filled by foreign workers, industry representatives claim.
A white paper unveiled last week by the Entertainment Software Association of Canada and the Information Technology Association of Canada says growth of the video game sector has outpaced Canadian labour supply.
The industry employed 16,500 full-time workers in 2013, the associations say, up five per cent from 2011.
Industry representatives are appealing to the federal government to make it easier to fill positions with foreign workers, noting a particular shortage of intermediate- to senior-level talent.
In a release, Jayson Hilchie, president and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association of Canada, said despite the plethora of postsecondary training programs related to the field in Canada, a dearth of senior talent will hamper future success.
“These programs will train the next generation of juniorlevel talent which will continue to fuel our growth. However, without being able to properly staff intermediate- and senior-level talent, there becomes less of a demand for junior-level talent…,” Hilchie said.
According to the release there are 64 post-secondary training programs related to the field in Canada and 26 computer science degree programs that are also applicable.
“The notion that high-skill, high-wage companies like those in the video game industry are taking jobs away from Canadians is incorrect,” Hilchie said. The average worker in the industry is 31 years old and makes $72,000 a year, the release states.
The white paper urges the federal government to ease and clarify processes to transfer foreign-based employees to the Canadian branch companies and updating a national job classification system.