Grappling with B.C.’s skills gap
April 20, 2022
At the beginning of 2019, BuildForce estimated that B.C. would need 17,000 labourers and tradespeople between 2020 and 2021 to meet peak construction needs of just four energy projects: the Site C dam, the Coastal GasLink pipeline (CGL), LNG Canada and the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
Turns out that number was conservative. In February, the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project alone employed 13,600 workers in B.C. and Alberta. Site C dam currently employs close to 4,000 workers, CGL 3,500 and LNG Canada 5,000. Conservatively, those four projects alone are employing 19,000 to 20,000 workers in B.C.
Since the pandemic caused some delays on some projects, peak construction years are now expected to be this year and next. By 2027, BuildForce expects a five per cent decline in “engineered construction” employment in B.C. (about 2,500 fewer jobs). It also expects a massive wave of retirement over the next two years across Canada.
“Retirements are expected to reach their highest levels over the next two years,” BuildForce stated in a recent forecast. “About 156,000 workers, many of whom are from the baby-boom generation, are expected to exit the industry. This represents a significant loss of skills and experience – skills that take time to develop and that are not typically easily replaced by new workers entering the labour force.”
Given the number of skilled workers and labourers hanging up their hard hats, it’s remarkable that the energy mega-projects currently being built have not already experienced a skilled labour crunch.
“For the most part, I haven’t heard of any significant concerns expressed around the ability to access labour,” said BuildForce executive director Bill Ferreira. “That’s not surprising because … the planning that goes into these projects, they do that well in advance.”
“Right now, we are managing,” added Brynn Bourke, executive director of BC Building Trades, which represents 40,000 members.
While the residential construction sector is facing chronic shortages in some trades, the engineered construction sector took steps to ensure it would have an adequate supply of labour for the big energy projects.
Source: Business in Vancouver
