Alberta’s oil and gas industry struggling to fill entry-level jobs

Some oil and gas companies in Alberta say they are struggling to fill their entry-level jobs, as people veer away from the industry for various reasons.

“I mean the type of work that we’re talking about here is very labour-intensive,” said Duncan Au, the president and CEO of CWC Energy Services Corp. “So it’s carrying 40 to 50 lbs pipe all day long for 10 hours a day.”

Au says because of the COVID pandemic, the field labour workforce diminished. But now it’s ramping up again and 100 new positions in their company need to be filled.

“We have had people that may have believed the fossil fuel industry is a dying breed and that we won’t need that necessarily,” said Au. “I would disagree with that argument, and as we’ve seen throughout 2022, that natural gas and oil is here to stay for quite some time.”

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A manager at the Bredin Centre for Career Advancement says he’s also noticed that people are veering away from oil and gas jobs.

“Working with oil and gas would require them to spend extended periods of time away from home,” said Tarek Fathelbub, Bredin’s manager of stakeholder engagement and workplace diversity and inclusion. “And also, it needs – according to what I heard from employers – it’s pretty rough on the rigs. It needs a certain personality, certain character, it needs someone who is physically fit as well.”

Another challenge: those who want to work from home, something they did during the pandemic and would like to keep doing.

“Many people have used the time of COVID to actually train themselves, improve their computer skills, improve their ability to deal with technology,” said Fathelbub. “So this is a trend we definitely see right now with people who have training with data analysis, or using different computer applications, marketing.”

Au says CWC targeted immigrants and younger adults, and have hired from eastern Canada in the past, but they’re currently looking to hire locally in western Canada, which can be its own challenge.

“It’s really more the turnover in terms of new entrants coming in, trying it out and maybe suggesting that the work is not for them,” said Au. “So we’ll always continue to have that in our industry, I believe.”

Au says the company’s raised their wages to increase their hiring chances, and as winter approaches – their busiest season for work – there’s hope that those 100 positions will be filled in time.