As Alberta's oil and gas industry rebounds, there's a new problem: not enough workers
CBC
The price of oil has been rising steadily the last several months, and while that should spell good news for the energy-producing province of Alberta, it has instead shone a spotlight on a problem — there aren't enough workers.
The province fell into a recession in 2014, when the price of oil plummeted, putting Alberta in a tough financial position and forcing many oil and gas workers out of a job.
But prices have spiked after sanctions against Russia have decreased its exports. Plus, after a slump at the beginning of the pandemic, oil consumption is now nearly back to pre-pandemic levels.
And now that things are again on the upswing, companies ranging from family-run businesses to larger businesses servicing the oil and gas sector are struggling to recruit enough labour to meet growing demand.
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Pitbull Energy Services, an oil and gas services company based in Edmonton, is looking to bring on approximately 100 truck drivers, but is having trouble finding qualified people. President and CEO Sami Hayek said the company is running at 60 per cent capacity until those positions are filled, and he would have liked to fill those roles "yesterday."
"We're still short. We're still recruiting. We're still training. It's an ongoing issue we're dealing with," he said.
"It's never been this bad."
While Hayek said there are people applying for jobs, there is a shortage of qualified applicants available as Alberta enters, what is believed to be, a boom.
"It's definitely frustrating. It's frustrating but we're working our way through it," he said.
Paul Chissell, owner of Wynn Machine and Manufacturing in Edmonton, said that when the price of oil started to climb, the phone at his family-run manufacturing business, which services the oil and gas sector, started ringing more.
Chissell said he historically had 15 people on staff; there are currently 12 right now and he would like to hire as many as three additional workers.
"It's been a struggle for labour, especially skilled labour," he said.
"If we had more people here then of course, your workload gets spread around and you can produce some more."
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