March 2008 Issue
issues
Is the End in Sight For Tight Labour Supply?
An APEGGA study suggests supply will catch demand for engineers and geoscientists
The pressure will soon ease for employers recruiting qualified professional engineers and geoscientists in Alberta, suggests an APEGGA labour market study. The white paper points to record growth in APEGGA applications for licensure as a missing component in forecasts that suggest otherwise.
The staff-authored Labour Market Assessment: 2007-2016 does not predict any major economic downturn in Alberta. Demand should continue to grow.
“Alberta’s economy has been the subject of scrutiny throughout 2006,” says the report. “Feverish economic activity, record-breaking employment growth and the resulting tight labour market were reported by the year end. Even with a slowdown in momentum, Alberta’s economic environment will still easily surpass all other provinces.”
The assessment compiles and compares data from within and beyond APEGGA, and also generates new data from a survey of permit-holding employers. It points to the complexity of the labour market and the difficulty of making accurate, 10-years-hence predictions, but nonetheless sees employer relief ahead.
“There is little question that the supply of engineers and geoscientists is presently very tight,” says the report. “Based on the recent increases in application rates and forecasts for demand, this tight supply should ease up in the near future.”
That said, demographics in the data point to a continuing need for various
programs from government, industry, APEGGA and academia, says the report. For
example, employers need to encourage some of their staff to work longer because
of a knowledge gap retiring baby boomers may end up creating. While integrating
newcomers should remain high on the agenda, so should increasing the number of
Alberta grads — Alberta
is training only 20 per cent of the people who apply for APEGGA licensure.
Aboriginals remain a largely untapped pool of people for professional engineering
and geoscience. And women still make up only 10 per cent of the APEGGA membership.
The Alberta Government’s labour supply-demand model forecasts that total demand for engineers and geoscientists will have increased to 47,500 from 38,000 by 2016. Supply will be lower than that, the government model suggests, resulting in a shortage of 6,200 engineers and 345 geoscientists.
However, based on a continuance of current application rates, the APEGGA report suggests a new supply that could go as high as 51,000 practitioners by 2016. That number is “apparently more than enough to meet the demand.”
The survey of permit-holders suggests member employers will hire 23,626 professional engineers through to 2016. Civil engineers will be in greatest demand, with more than 7,300 hires, followed by electrical engineers at about 4,850, mechanical engineers at about 3,080, chemical engineers at 2,450 and petroleum engineers at 1,570.
The report also speaks to the changing ethnic texture of the Association and the marketplace. New membership applications from internationally educated graduates numbered 1,751 in 2006 — about a third of all new applications and up 58 per cent from only a year before.
The permit-holder survey confirms that employers are actively seeking employees from other countries. In fact 69 per cent of the 84 respondents have recruited engineers and geoscientists from other countries.
Key Recommendations
Among the recommendations in the report are that the Alberta Government
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forge and improve partnerships to encourage women and Aboriginals to enter the APEGGA professions
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continue to remove legislative barriers to those who want to work past traditional retirement ages
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work nationally to negotiate more inter-provincial trade agreements
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facilitate and encourage immigration, primarily of engineers in their 30s and early 40s to help offset the effects of baby boomer retirement.
Alberta universities should
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forge and improve partnerships to encourage the enrolment of women and Aboriginals
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promote Alberta universities, in and beyond Canada, as institutions of choice for post-grad work
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consider programs to more effectively integrate and upgrade internationally educated graduates.
APEGGA should
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forge and improve partnerships to encourage women and Aboriginals to enter the APEGGA professions
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continue to help enhance mobility and help internationally educated graduates to integrate and gain licensure
Permit holders should
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develop strategic workforce plans
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make sure compensation and benefits packages are competitive enough to attract and retain professionals
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enhance professional development of employees
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improve flexibility and other programs that encourage women and mature employees to remain in the workforce
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when recruiting abroad, consider countries with a strong record of licensure success in Alberta.