| Where the jobs are going
By Mark Swartz , The Toronto Star, June 14, 2004
In Canada today, opportunities for employment are spread across the country. However, they're not uniform and there are definitely pockets of activity where people in particular industries and professions stand a better chance of finding work than others.
Take call centres, for example. Northern Ontario and the East Coast are becoming hotspots for this industry. A plentiful supply of affordable, bilingual labour, as well as affordable office space, have made this possible.
In Ontario , Human Resources And Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) expects to see more need for the following occupations: chefs, chemical engineers, computer systems analysts, construction skilled trades, electronic service technicians (household and business equipment), machinists, mechanical engineers, registered nurses, secondary and elementary school teachers, and tool and die makers.
Some of these conjectures make infinite sense. More chefs will be needed if we continue to eat out and pick up ready-made meals, as part of our increasingly hectic lifestyles. Construction workers, drywallers, bricklayers, electricians and related trades are necessary when housing markets boom, as is happening in the GTA. And a fresh crop of teachers must be trained in order to replace the wave of veterans who are just starting to retire en masse.
In the rest of Canada , employment prospects vary widely from province to province. In the east, Newfoundland and Labrador may require more deck officers, financial auditors and accountants, general practitioners and family physicians, and registered nurses.
Heading into the Maritimes, there is anticipated demand for aircraft mechanics and inspectors, hairstylists and barbers, long-haul truck drivers, managers in engineering, architecture, science and information systems, and university professors, among others.
Quebec is supposedly the place to be for engineers, "notably electric and electronic, computer and aerospace" specialists, as well as human resources and business service professionals, and teachers of persons with disabilities.
My own feeling is that contingencies will dictate job prospects as much as anything else. For example, if the price of gas stays at current levels, or rises under renewed terrorist attacks, Alberta could have a thriving oilsands project requiring engineers, drillers, equipment operators and the like. Lumber processing could soar in B.C. if the U.S. chooses not to fight April's NAFTA ruling allowing in more of our softwood.
Knowing that Toronto is the place to be for construction is great, if you can apply your skills to this industry. Betting that B.C. logging will boom under relaxed trade quotas can put you in the heart of the action, assuming you have relevant experience and are willing to move. It all boils down to what you value most: the relative security of consistent demand for your services, or the constancy of being grounded geographically.
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