‘Chronic’ labour shortage in Canada’s oil-and-gas sector

CALGARY — A report warns an aging workforce and a booming energy sector are going to pose a serious challenge for oil and gas companies looking for workers over the next few years.

The Petroleum Human Resources Council of Canada says the industry must fill at least 9,500 jobs by 2015.

“We have moved from a world in which these workforce shortages were cyclic to where we think they’re chronic, so this is an issue we’re going to have with us . . . and we’re going to have to work through for a long time,” said Tom Huffaker, vicepresident of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.

The report says the energy industry is at risk of losing about three per cent of its work force overall because of persistently low natural-gas prices.

But it says growth in certain operations and age-related attrition will offset any job losses and lead to increased hiring needs.

The outlook projects employment in Alberta’s oilsands to jump by 29 per cent over 2011 levels, or roughly 5,850 jobs. The pipeline sector will add about 530 jobs over the same time period.

The president of the Petroleum Services Association of Canada says many companies still haven’t recovered from 15,000 layoffs that occurred during the economic slump in 2008 and 2009.

“We’ll need to hire more than 5,000 new workers by 2015,” said Mark Salkeld. “It’s a vibrant and very exciting industry and we’ve had challenges before and we’ll overcome them again.”