ALBERTA IN SEARCH OF MORE SKILLED WORKERS
The Alberta government is offering upsized incentives and expanding training programs as it seeks to plug a labour gap that persists despite record population growth in the province.
Finance Minister Nate Horner introduced a handful of new programs aimed at growing the province’s skilled labour force in Thursday’s budget, including a new round of the province’s Alberta is Calling campaign, which will offer a $5,000 attraction bonus to new skilled trades workers.
Other measures include more apprenticeship seats, adding seats for STEM programs at U of C
“We still have a sincere need for specialized skilled labour,” Horner told reporters Thursday afternoon. He said projects such as Dow Inc.’s $9-billion petrochemicals project in Fort Saskatchewan “have the potential to completely drain the province of certain types of skilled labour.”
The province is projecting a 6.5 per cent unemployment rate for 2024 — higher than the 5.8 per cent national rate.
Its updated Alberta is Calling campaign includes a $5,000 “attraction bonus” through a refundable tax credit. The province is dedicating $10 million to the effort, which it said will help 2,000 workers relocate to Alberta.
Horner said criteria for that program will be “very specific.”
The final details are a shift from the province’s original plan for the campaign’s second phase. Last July, it said the program was allocating a total of $17 million at $1,200 a worker, with the intention of attracting 14,000 recipients.
Alberta also plans to add more than 3,000 new seats in apprenticeship programs over the next year.
Overall, Alberta is putting $100 million in new funding toward apprenticeship programs that will add 3,200 seats, which it says will “help meet growing demand at Alberta’s post-secondary institutions.”
That’s largely due to the province’s abnormally young population: 12.6 per cent of Albertans are between five and 14 years old — substantially more than the rest of Canada at 10.5 per cent. The Alberta Post-secondary Network anticipates more than 35,000 students will be added by 2030.
In a report sent to parties running in last spring’s election, the network said Alberta stands to lose skilled workers to other provinces and countries if it doesn’t provide commensurate funding.
Alberta’s post-secondary education programs are also receiving a handful of funding boosts in the coming year.
The University of Calgary is to receive $55 million over the next three years, according to the budget, which will add 1,000 spaces in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs. The university received $59 million last year.
As anticipated, Alberta isn’t making changes to its eight-per-cent corporate tax rate — the lowest in Canada.
At the same time as Alberta struggles to attract specific workers, shelter costs are still rising for the average Albertan because of housing supply issues, the province’s fiscal plan says. In the near term, it says, upward pressure on rents and housing prices — already at record highs — will continue.
The province is predicting concrete will be poured for more than 38,000 homes, after posting 36,000 housing starts last year.
Meanwhile, the average Albertan will “continue tightening their belts this year,” the plan says, especially as a wave of mortgage renewals comes up, which is expected to have a negative effect on overall consumer spending.
Alberta’s population grew 4.1 per cent last year, resulting in net migration of more than 168,000 people. The province is projecting 3.7 per cent population growth this year, amounting to nearly 157,000 net growth.