Worker shortage looms again: Hicks on Biz column originally published in Edmonton Sun, April 7, 2012

Posted @ 4/7/2012 8:42 PM By Graham Hicks

Remember the bumper sticker from the ‘80s, “Please God, let there be another oil boom. I promise not to piss it all away the next time.” That, of course, was two booms ago.Now we are on the cusp, the very beginning of the third.We seem to be getting smarter at this, but not much.All the corporate talk at the downtown Ricky’s Grill in the mornings, at the Hardware Grill at lunch, is about the impending labour shortage.“Workforce, workforce, workforce,” says Edmonton Chamber of Commerce President & CEO Martin Salloum. “That’s all our members are talking about.”Driven by the global need for our clean oil, Northern Alberta is relentlessly growing. New oil extraction plants come on stream nearly every month in the oilsands. Conventional oil wells are resurrected thanks to new technology. Natural gas is readying for an inevitable recovery once it can be shipped to Asia and replaces coal in electricity generation.Brains and brawn are needed for all the above. Geologists to find the energy, engineers to design the in ...