Tinker, Tailor, Seamstress, Beekeeper?

Headlines scream Alberta is shedding jobs.

With an unemployment rate of 5.4% Alberta is doing better than many countries in the world including Canada which hit a 7.7% unemployment rate in February. While Alberta gained 3,300 jobs in January 129,000 were lost across the country. Numbers look scary till you get the full story.

Unemployment numbers increased in resource based jobs partially due to seasonality and to some projects being put on hold. Not all categories are being hit. In fact there are and will be shortages in many industries looming in the future. Tailors, dietitians, nutritionists, architects and beekeepers (yes beekeepers) are looking at labour shortages in the near future.

Alberta is coming from a place where teenagers were dropping out of school to go work in the oilfields and make more than their parents. Billboards everywhere had staff needed signs and the province showcased itself across the world as the place to move to for work, low taxes and great quality of life.

Which it still is.