TIGHT MARKET: Shortages will keep growing
Ashley Ford
Province
Skilled workers are writing their own tickets in B.C. Photograph by : The Associated Press file photo
Across Greater Vancouver’s Lower Mainland, it’s a “golden age” for the building and constructions trades.
Faced with an unending housing-construction boom and hundreds of millions of dollars in major infrastructure projects, skilled trades workers are the “golden ones” of the employment sector.
Tales abound of construction bosses prowling rival sites trying to entice workers away with promises of bonuses and higher wages.
While wage rates are all over the map, there are very few skilled workers toiling for less than $35 an hour.
It’s an astonishing turnaround from a few short years ago, when construction workers were deserting the province in droves and the advice for young people entering the workforce was to follow the “diamond-studded high-tech road to geekdom” for financial success.
Peter Simpson, CEO of the Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association, admits competition for workers is intense.
“It is the smaller builders and project developers who really feel the squeeze as they have to plan exceedingly carefully to ensure there is continuity in the whole process. If their schedule gets even slightly out of whack, they can get into trouble. Workers don’t wait around; they are off to the next job.”
Graham Street, a respected west-side contractor, agrees — and says keeping everything on track is getting more difficult.
What worries him is the number of huge infrastructure projects coupled with the demands of the 2010 Winter Olympics just over the horizon.
“Highly skilled workers simply aren’t around these days. You just cannot find them,” he says.
While he applauds new efforts to train more construction workers, he says it won’t help immediately.
“It’s a start, but it really takes 10 to 15 years to get properly qualified,” he says.
“And it is more than just teaching. You have to have a natural ability as well,” he adds.
Bringing in foreign workers sounds good, but there is often a language problem and their skill levels may not pass muster here, says Street.
Projects such as the billion-dollar Canada Line rapid-transit project from Vancouver’s downtown to Richmond and the Vancouver International Airport, the $500-million-plus expansion of the Vancouver Exhibition and Convention Centre on the city’s inner waterfront, the Olympic Village and several other major transportation bridge and highway projects will further tighten the noose on smaller operators.
“Where are they going to get the skilled workers from?” Street asks.
Simpson says there are shortages right across the board and skilled workers can write their own ticket.
“Things are especially tight for carpenters, framers, formers, electricians, plumbers and drywallers. Look, if you have a trade you can go anywhere,” he says.
Under-the-table payments and cash bonuses?
“It wouldn’t surprise me,” Simpson says.
© The Vancouver Province 2006
