Budget ‘09

Details of the proposed federal budget  were announced yesterday and all those who seek labour market information should have been paying attention.
You can see all of the details here but I want to focus on a couple of areas that will be of interest if you work in education, construction or transportation.
$1.5 billion dollars worth of new funding [...]

Shovel ready projects

We recently decided that the word “infrastructure” would be our word for 2009. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities reports that should infrastructure spending be a component of next weeks federal budget, cities around the country have projects that are “shovel ready”. This will be of particular interest to our clients who are Civil Engineers or [...]

The word for 2009

I would like to suggest that the word “infrastructure” is one to keep in mind for the new year; particularly if you work in the construction sector. The federal government will use infrastructure spending  as a key component of its economic stimulus package. This article from the Reed Construction Data website reminds us of why this word [...]

Silver lining time

Let’s look beyond the headlines for a moment. This article from the Wall St. Journal has the gloomy headline of “Canadian Minister Says Outlook Is Getting Worse”. The article outlines some of the challenges the Canadian economy is facing and discussed a proposed stimulus package.
Most media reports indicate that a stimulus package will have some sort of [...]

National “crisis”

The Financial Post is reporting that according to a coalition of business groups, unions and colleges the shortage of skilled labour in this country is reaching the point of crisis. The article claims that this skilled worker shortage is preventing many small and medium-sized businesses from expanding.
Some sectors of the economy are particuraly affected by this [...]

Continued growth projected for Victoria

The Conference Board of Canada has recently released a report that focuses on economic conditions in this country’s largest cities. Continued activity in the non-residential construction sector will continue to drive economic growth. An article in yesterday’s edition of the Times-Colonist looks at the report and expands on the labour market picture.
Greater Victoria’s unemployment rate will [...]

Stepping stones

Many of our clients who have professional designations in engineering, information technology, construction, electronics and other fields will want to take note of a recent article from the Times-Colonist. A common tactic for newcomers to Canada to take is to seek employment in their field at a level with less responsibility. This allows individuals to establish [...]

“Perfect Storm” in the Construction Sector

Those of you who work in the construction industry will want to review this press release which looks at labour market demand for this sector. The Construction Sector Council’s annual forecast of labour market trends predicts that 94,000 new workers will be needed over the next 8 years to keep pace with new projects. Another [...]

Labour Market News

The Times-Colonist is reporting on a study that shows that the gambling industry in BC creates 16,400 jobs (135,000 across the country).
 The construction sector is still driving job growth in British Columbia. Over 152,000 skilled workers will be retiring from this sector over the next 10 years.
 There are about 650,000 information and communication technology workers in Canada. There [...]