Labour Market Transition

About LMT

As the petroleum industry begins to rebound from the unfortunate economic slowdown of last year, recruitment and hiring has picked up as companies have a renewed focus on growth and expansion. There is an increasing need to recruit talent from a variety of labour pools and companies know that with an aging workforce and ever more technologically advanced processes, the need to grow the industry's pool of skilled workers continues.

The Petroleum HR Council's Labour Market Transition (LMT) project aims to develop a strategic and coordinated approach to increase the petroleum industry's access to skilled and experienced workers made available as a result of downsizing within some key industries in Canada.

Phase 1

In June 2007, the Petroleum HR Council completed research to understand the opportunities, barriers and feasibility of easing short- and medium-term labour demands within the upstream petroleum industry by engaging workers from industries with an expected surplus labour supply.

This research gave the Council a solid understanding of:

  • Industry's strengths and challenges regarding attracting workers downsized from other industries;
  • Potential career matches for workers from forestry, transportation and chemical manufacturing into our industry's in-demand occupations; and
  • Specific steps and efforts required to transition workers from these industries.

 

These findings are documented in the Petroleum Labour Market Transition Project: Coordinating the Connection between Downsized Workers and The Upstream Petroleum Industry - Final Report & Recommendations (PDF). In the report, the Council also proposed a Labour Market Transition service to industry utilizing the LMT process as a service delivery model.

Phase 2

In March 2008, LMT Phase 2 developed and piloted the Labour Market Transition service. The service is designed to provide information and assessments to petroleum companies about the transferability, readiness to transition, and mobility of workers from a specific downsizing situation into in-demand petroleum jobs. The service also provides value to downsizing situations by providing accurate information about the oil and gas industry and its careers, recruitment processes and HR practices.

Based on findings from the Phase 1 project and additional research conducted in Phase 2, the project focused on the BC forestry industry, particularly the pulp and paper sector.

Project Results

  • Information sessions on Canada's petroleum industry presented to eight downsizing communities in BC.
  • Research completed on:
    • In-demand occupations in the upstream petroleum industry;
    • Understanding the downsizing labour adjustment occurring in the forestry industry in British Columbia; and
    • Overall approach required and available supports to working with downsizing situations in other provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario) and industries (i.e. automotive manufacturing and petroleum).
    • Short-Term HR Trends within the petroleum industry and its sub-sectors to identify workforce issues and trends as well as monitor occupations that are in-demand in the current environment. This was identified through a pilot utilizing web-based surveying within oil and gas companies and was implemented quarterly.
      • Surveys were released in Q4 2009, Q1 2010 and Q2 2010.
      • Survey result reports are available for public distribution. If you would like more information please visit the Labour Market Information section.
  • The LMT service developed and piloted within the pulp and paper sector in Campbell River, BC with the following outcomes:
    • Downsizing situation assessed to understand opportunities and readiness of workers to transition into oil and gas;
    • Oil and gas industry perceptions addressed;
    • Local employment centre and CEP union better equipped to assess and assist downsized workers;
    • Training and education courses developed to upgrade pulp and paper workforce existing skill sets;
    • Displaced workers  have  a better understanding of their transferable skills;
    • Greater awareness for oil and gas companies regarding downsized labour pools and transferable skills;
    • Successful recruitment drive conducted by an industry company in Campbell River; and
    • Transition of approximately 90 workers into the oil and gas industry.
  • Due to the success of the first pilot, a second pilot is ongoing in three communities in Northern BC (Kitimat/Terrace, Prince George and Quesnel) with the following activities:
    • Assessments of the displaced forestry workers in terms of their transferable skills, readiness and willingness to transition and be mobile;
    • Assessments of the transition supports available within the community; and
    • Industry and career awareness information sessions to community stakeholders (eg. employment centres, educational institutions, labour adjustment groups, etc.) and displaced workers.

Next steps

The Petroleum HR Council will continue to monitor petroleum industry activities to understand occupations that are in-demand. With supplementary financial support from Northern Gateway Pipelines LP, additional information sessions will be delivered in the Kitimat/Terrace region to community stakeholders as well as displaced workers remaining in the region.

The Multi-Sectoral Labour Market Transition project proposal is in progress. The pilot will look at a more comprehensive and cost-efficient way of transitioning available workers from declining sectors into industries that require skilled and experienced workers.

To find out more about the project or the next steps contact Claudine Vidallo, Project Manager, at 403-516-8118 or at cvidallo@petrohrsc.ca.

Items for Download: