Alberta targets older workers for curbing upcoming labour shortages

Canada, 29th April: Alberta is looking to control the future labor crisis through a plan to allure mature employees.

The government of Alberta wants older workers to shelve their plans of retirement in a bid to curb the imminent labor shortage in the coming times in Alberta.

Alberta on the brink of acute labor shortage---According to Thomas Lukaszuk, Alberta’s Employment and Immigration Minister, Alberta is likely to face shortage of labor in the coming times. Hence, the strategy of the government is aimed to invite more older employees to keep staying on their jobs in Alberta, he stated during Alberta Human Resources Conference on 27th April, 2011.

Shortage of 77,000 workers in next decade--Speaking about ‘Engaging the Mature Worker: An Action Plan for Alberta’, the minister said that Alberta is going to face a huge exodus of aging workers in the year 2011. In the next ten years period, Alberta will face shortage of nearly 77,000 workers including doctors, day care workers and many more.

Focus on underrepresented groups in Alberta--Hence, the aim is to shift focus on older people, immigrants and aboriginals in Alberta, the groups most under-represented in the labor force in Alberta, he stated. Currently, the number of older workers in the total workforce is stated to be around 16 percent.

However, the number of employers having plans to tackle the problem of older workforce is just around one in four. As many as 190,000 workers will retire in Alberta in the next decade. The previous year saw exit of 17,400 Albertans moving out of the workforce due to retirement.

Tapping of older workers willing to work—The government of Alberta wants to catch the older workers in the age group of 55 and above who are willing to keep working even after they reach the retirement age. Lukaszuk stated that majority of mature employees are ready to keep engaged in some form of work, although it could be on casual or part-time basis or even switching to some different work altogether.

Linking of Alberta’s minimum wages with other provinces--Lukaszuk also hinted at the possibilities of linking minimum wages of Alberta with the minimum wages in Saskatchewan and British Columbia (B.C.). Alberta is going to see a hike in the minimum wages in Alberta shortly, the minister affirmed.

Talks with the minister from B.C. and the minister from Saskatchewan are going on in a bid to make minimum wages more aligned and related with different provinces, he said. This will facilitate firms with offices in all these three Canadian provinces having to deal with different minimum wage rates, he stated.