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Alberta's job growth leads nationWorkforce up 2.8% in a year provincially, but only 1.6% nationally

Predicting labour trends is notoriously tricky, partly because the economy sways and shifts much more quickly than the education or immigration systems that supply many workers. Sometimes, events can change overnight – one tsunami in Japan, for example, can cause countries around the world to re-think investment in nuclear industries.

Job seekers are flooding back to Alberta after a two-year lull, lured by a resurgence in the oil patch and growing hiring demands. Alberta saw a net inflow of 5,300 people from other provinces in the first quarter of 2011 -- its highest rate of interprovincial migration since the first quarter of 2006, according to Statistics Canada preliminary population data reported Wednesday.

The province saw steady inflows of workers from other parts of Canada between 1995 and 2009, but saw outflows in 2010 for the first time in 15 years.

Alberta’s gain appears to have come from Atlantic Canada and other Prairie provinces. Newfoundland recorded a net outflow of 500 people and Nova Scotia lost 1,000 to interprovincial migration in the first quarter.

the purpose is to attract people and prospective employees “and to address our longer-term workforce needs.”

The second reason is to further develop and diversify our business base in a more sustainable way to complement our strength in areas like energy,

third reason, particularly coming back from our research, is to highlight how this city has evolved from an arts, a culture and a cosmopolitan global business centre perspective

A new tool will help employers and human resources professionals better understand academic credentials earned abroad. The online tool will improve the attraction and retention of newcomers which is an important part of addressing the province’s future labour shortage

Education Overview Guides are an online resource that explains how international education credentials compare to Alberta education credentials and standards. Employers, Human Resource professionals, potential immigrants, and recent newcomers can all benefit from understanding how foreign education credentials compare to Alberta standards.

For more information on the Guides, please visit the Education Overview Guides. For more information on Foreign Qualification Recognition and to see other resources, please visit Foreign Qualification Recognition or call 780–427-2655 (toll-free by calling 310–0000).

biggest growth in employer demand has been for basic labour or unspecified skills,

In 2000, 11 per cent of temporary foreign workers performed basic labour or unspecified skills; now 34 per cent of them do.

The temporary foreign worker program is really about contracting out immigration," says Yessy Byl, a lawyer who volunteers with the Edmonton Community Legal Centre. “In fact the government is setting the stage for a bizarre non-immigration program because those workers can’t immigrate.”

Unemployment rates and income differ amongst racialized Canadians. All racialized communities, except those who identify as Japa¬nese or Filipino, have higher unemployment rates than non-racialized Canadians. Of those remaining racialized communities, the differences in unemployment rates from the non-racialized population are significant. The unemployment rate for those who identify as Chinese was 21% higher than non-racialized Canadians. The unem¬ployment rate was 95% higher for those who identify as West Asian/Arab and 73% higher for those who identify as Black.

overall average income of racialized Canadians declined by 0.2% between 2001 and 2005, while that of non-racialized Canadians grew by 2.7% for the same period. The report raises concern that racialized Canadians actually lost ground at a time of economic growth in Canada and that economic growth was not a solution for income inequalities that these racialized groups face.

racialization of poverty in Canada, where poverty rates for racialized families are three times higher than non-racialized families. 19.8% of racialized families lived in poverty compared to 6.4% of non-racialized families in 2005. The racialization of poverty refers to a phenomenon where poverty becomes disproportionately concentrated and reproduced among racialized group members, in some cases inter-generationally. The report attributes the racialization of poverty to the historical forms of racial discrimination found in the Canadian labour market. This in turn creates a process of social and economic marginalization that in turn results in a disproportionate vulnerability to poverty among racialized communities.

perfect demographic storm is developing in Alberta leading to severe worker shortages for many years to come.

Lukaszuk, Alberta’s Minister of Employment and Immigration, said the province is already starting to see labour shortages in some sectors such as the transportation and hospitality industries.

“There are companies that simply can’t find workers already,” he said. “There are sectors that are already showing inability to readily find employees at competitive price. And that will only escalate as time goes on.

The growing US jobs challenge It could take more than five years—longer than after any postwar downturn—to replace the millions of jobs lost to the 2008–09 recession. How can the US rev up its job creation engine?