While the buzz about booming economies has largely centred on Alberta and B.C., Saskatchewan economic revival is sharing the same joys - and pains.
A recent Canada West Foundation (CWF) report says that Saskatchewan's economic growth in 2005 could exceed 3.4 per cent. Soaring revenue from oil, gas, potash and uranium have turned Saskatchewan into a "have" province, the report adds.
But report author Todd Hirsch says skilled labour is being drawn to Alberta's humming economy, which is hurting construction, health care and other key fields in Saskatchewan.
The CWF chief economist also says the provincial economy could be harmed if resource prices fall and the government fails to do enough to encourage investment in other areas.
The Saskatchewan business community concurs with the report's findings. Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce president Ted Hillstead says issues such as high corporate taxes, and especially labour shortages, are restraining economic growth in the province.
"I'm hearing from our members right across the board that this labour issue is affecting many of them," Hillstead says. "There are some that have chosen not to expand, not to go into new products because of the lack of skilled labour."
Hillstead says many Saskatchewan businesses are small and lack the resources to recruit workers on a large scale, and for that reason he is calling on industry associations and local, provincial and federal governments to help find a solution.
"We're not just talking about looking in other parts of the country, we're looking at a whole immigration strategy to increase the number of people from outside of Canada to come" to Saskatchewan, Hillstead says.
Larger companies with the financial resources are already busy scouring the planet to find the workers they need to prosper.
Saskatoon-based Hitachi Canadian Industries Ltd. - a division of Japanese giant Hitachi Ltd. - has gone as far afield as the U.K. to find the highly skilled tradespeople it needs to fabricate such products as high-pressure vessels for the oil industry and towers used in wind-generated energy.
"We have plenty of talent in our company, but we're looking for more of it," says Larry Flowers, director of human resources at Hitachi. "We're doing things like partnerships with our educational institutions and specifically targeting Aboriginal groups and the underemployed in our province in terms of getting them trained. But we're also looking at overseas recruitment and have successfully placed people in our company and are continuing to do that in '06."
Hitachi has 300 employees and plans to increase its staff complement by 10 this year, Flowers adds.
The CWF report states that Saskatchewan companies must focus on the "fast-growing Aboriginal population" in the province, which it says provides both an opportunity and a challenge for industry.
"Some progress is being made, but much more work is needed to find ways of training young Aboriginal people and to meaningfully engage them into the labour force. This is not a trivial matter," Hirsch writes in the report.
Hillstead says Saskatchewan businesses are tapping the Aboriginal workforce, but says even this labour source may not be sufficient to turn the tide.
"We're actually seeing significant success with the Aboriginal population," he says, but adds that "even if we fully employed all of the unemployed Aboriginals to the same level as the non-Aboriginal population, we are still significantly short of employees."
Those who choose to live and work in the nation's breadbasket are reaping the rewards. According to the CWF, in December 2005 the average hourly wage rose to $17.77 per hour, 5.5 per cent above the rate paid a year earlier, topping the national average increase of 3.8 per cent. The rate of increase was "particularly strong for older workers," (55+) with an average hourly wage of $19.76 per hour, an increase almost nine per cent during this period.
Hitachi says it, too, has sweetened its compensation packages to attract workers.
"We've introduced some serious changes to our compensation and our benefits," Flowers says. "One thing is our compensation and another is our work environment, our safety environment, and education."
Other factors impeding economic growth include corporate tax and regulatory regimes. The CWF says proposed changes to provincial taxes and the regulatory environment mean promising long-term prospects.
The chamber's Hillstead says slashing corporate taxes - which stand among the highest in Canada - will be a relief to Saskatchewan's business community by making the province more competitive with Alberta and B.C.
"What we've asked for as a chamber is for all four western provinces to sit down and eliminate all barriers to development," he says.
- with files from The Canadian Press
