globeandmail.com : Worker shortage glows red in runup to 2010
Worker shortage glows red in runup to 2010
Construction needs reach Olympic high
CATHRYN ATKINSON
Special to The Globe and Mail
VANCOUVER -- Construction workers being poached from job sites by rival companies. Companies fully booked more than a year in advance for construction jobs. Worries that Olympic venues won't be completed on time, or completed at exorbitant costs.
These are just some of the signs that the shortage of skilled construction workers has hit a red-hot crisis point in British Columbia.
Employers estimate they will need 20,000 construction workers during the next three years to add to the 167,000 currently on the job across the province. Increasingly, companies are looking overseas to fill their needs.
"I've been in construction for 28 years, and I've seen the highs and lows here, but I've never seen anything like this," said Len Edmondson, vice-president of Flynn Canada Ltd., one of the country's largest building-exterior contractors.
"The work in hand is already double what it was just a couple of years ago and we're only just beginning to see the major projects for 2010, but we can't get the workers."
Large-scale projects, such as the RAV line, the Vancouver Convention Centre and Olympic venues, may have the highest profile, but make up only a fraction of the staggering $87-billion in construction work now on the books throughout the province.
From small plumbing firms to mid-sized roofers to major commercial developers -- all are under extreme pressure to complete work on time, and on budget. What they need, employers say, is more people to do the work -- and they can't be found.
globeandmail.com : Worker shortage glows red in runup to 2010
Construction needs reach Olympic high
CATHRYN ATKINSON
Special to The Globe and Mail
VANCOUVER -- Construction workers being poached from job sites by rival companies. Companies fully booked more than a year in advance for construction jobs. Worries that Olympic venues won't be completed on time, or completed at exorbitant costs.
These are just some of the signs that the shortage of skilled construction workers has hit a red-hot crisis point in British Columbia.
Employers estimate they will need 20,000 construction workers during the next three years to add to the 167,000 currently on the job across the province. Increasingly, companies are looking overseas to fill their needs.
"I've been in construction for 28 years, and I've seen the highs and lows here, but I've never seen anything like this," said Len Edmondson, vice-president of Flynn Canada Ltd., one of the country's largest building-exterior contractors.
"The work in hand is already double what it was just a couple of years ago and we're only just beginning to see the major projects for 2010, but we can't get the workers."
Large-scale projects, such as the RAV line, the Vancouver Convention Centre and Olympic venues, may have the highest profile, but make up only a fraction of the staggering $87-billion in construction work now on the books throughout the province.
From small plumbing firms to mid-sized roofers to major commercial developers -- all are under extreme pressure to complete work on time, and on budget. What they need, employers say, is more people to do the work -- and they can't be found.
globeandmail.com : Worker shortage glows red in runup to 2010
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