Photo credit: Curtis Galbraith.

By Curtis Galbraith

Alberta government working on the shortage of skilled workers, says Minister Jones

Feb 22, 2024 | 6:00 AM

Alberta’s Jobs, Economy and Trade Minister says the government is working on addressing a shortage of skilled trades people and health care workers.

Matt Jones says the government wants to “change our system so that it is producing what Alberta needs going into the future.”

“We’re also going to be doing another wave of what’s called the Alberta is Calling campaign where we ask skilled trades from other provinces to come live and work in Alberta and we’re going to be providing a moving bonus to incentivize them to do so.”

Jones says estimates for the number of workers Alberta needs range from 20,000 to 30,000.

He adds having more emphasis on a career in the trades in K-12 schools is “a priority for the premier.”

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Jones says he and Minister of Education Demetrios Nicolaides are working on this. They want students to have a chance to gain some hands-on experience.

“Some other provinces have facilities where kids can go and visit. They can try different modules of trades, and then as we get into high school, we want to ensure students are provided information on the career opportunities, the need, what their career might look like, what kind of wages are available.”

“There are significant opportunities in the skilled trades, and we haven’t done a great job at esteeming the trades to Alberta’s youth.”

Jones thinks Alberta’s economy is “doing very well.”

“The entire world is looking for what Alberta produces, which is food and energy. Over the last two years, they’ve realized that it needs to be democratically stable and responsibly produced food and energy.”

“I think the future is bright for Alberta and it will weather any potential economic hardship better than other jurisdictions in Canada.”

Jones says the government is supporting diversification and that Alberta is seeing record numbers for venture capital and the number of tech companies coming to this province.

He is expecting an announcement in March about a $30 million investment by a tech company moving into downtown Calgary.

Jones spoke on Day 1 of the Growing the North economic development conference in Grande Prairie Wednesday.

The conference continues through Thursday.