Oilpatch Fighting Uphill Battle Recruiting Workers 'Unbelievable how much, how fast, it's turned around'

"It's just unbelievable how much, how fast, it's turned around."

These are words from an interview with Shannon Warren, CEO of Matrix Labour Leasing in Calgary Alberta when describing the incredible rebound of the Oil & gas sector.

As reported by CBC news, he says that the oil and gas industry is now rebounding after barely surviving through nearly seven years of collapsing oil prices, an economic downturn, a recession and a pandemic that saw demand dry up.

These all contributed to massive layoffs, but now it seems things have shifted.

In fact, recruiters, hiring managers, HR departments and internal marketing teams are scrambling to attract enough workers. This includes everything from highly skilled trades people and professionals such as welders & equipment operators to unskilled "green", eager-to-learn labourers.

Warren went on to say that "There's such a huge demand right now, there's so much work out there, we're seeing it more and more as the days and weeks are progressing".

"(And) it's only getting worse," he concluded.

Gurpreet Lail, president of the Petroleum Services Association of Canada (PSAC) reportedly did a survey of PSAC's members and discovered more than 2,000 open jobs for skilled and unskilled labourers in the energy service sector.

Thankfully, this has led to better wages, bonuses & incentives.

Mark Scholz, president of CAOEC said that aside from monetary compensation and benefits, many workers are seeking better schedules, with more flexibility to allow a balanced lifestyle.

That said, Signing bonuses of $1,000 to $2,500 are also being offered in some cases, although not everyone believes they will resolve the labour shortage in the long term.

The increased compensation has worked in at least one case. The story from CBC suggests that a first-year plumber in Calgary is getting set to start a new job as a roughneck on a service rig - going from making $18/hr to $36/hr.

"Eventually, I'll go back to it but right now I have student loans that I would like to pay off and stuff, and it's just kind of  better money, right?"