If you wondered why the oil and gas industry has trouble finding qualified workers a new report released by Portage College sheds some light on the situation.
Titled “Environmental Scan— Pipeline Industry“, and using figures from Statistics Canada, an analysis of job postings and interviews with Alberta pipeline companies was done to assess the needs of students and the industry.
The findings:
– Fifty-four per cent of Canadian employers in the gas and oil industry have a concern about skills shortages.
– The pipeline industry faced a shortage of about 1,000 scientists, engineers and technicians in 2013, a number projected to grow to over 3,000 by 2023
– The three most popular categories of job postings for the pipeline industry are for engineers, technicians and sales/marketing/business development.
– Applications to pipeline-related engineering programs increased by 19.2 per cent from 2010 to 1014, while enrolment only increased by 2.6 per cent.
– Applications to programs in mechanical technology, such as industrial mechanics, increased by 23.9 per cent, while enrolment remained stagnant.
The report was authored as part of the college’s research into the proposed Pipeline Learning Facility Process Loop. The training centre at the college will include a closed-loop pipeline and a pipeline control room. The facility will give students real-world experience and practice on a real pipeline system.
(source: Cold Lake Sun)
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