Not all sectors of the province's economy are firing on all cylinders.

Despite having Canada's lowest provincial unemployment rate - 4.6 per cent in 2004, according to Alberta Economic Development (AED) - some businesses are finding it hard to go full speed ahead because of a lack of skilled employees.

As a result, a series of foreign worker readiness seminars are being scheduled to help employers who wish to hire temporary foreign workers in order to address labour market shortages.

Three such seminars will be held later this year - one in Thorhild, north of Edmonton, and two in Edmonton. Sessions were held earlier in Calgary.

The seminars come at a time when the province's economy has averaged a 3.7-per-cent annual economic growth rate for the past 20 years - numbers that represent the fastest provincial growth rate in Canada, says AED.

The seminars - Sept. 13 in Thorhild and Sept. 27 and Nov. 2 in Edmonton - aim to educate employers about the process of hiring temporary foreign workers, highlight the job openings at immigration promotional activities in Europe and inform employers about the possibility of retaining these temporary workers.

According to provincial government officials, the seminars have been well received, and since November, 10 have been delivered in Edson, Medicine Hat, Red Deer and Westlock, in addition to Calgary and Edmonton. About 280 people took part.

"At Alberta Economic Development, we help businesses who have been unable to find skilled workers locally to look beyond the province's borders," says Terry Jorden, a public affairs officer with AED.

"The session is an introduction for employers to the processes they will need to follow to do that," he says.

"Of course, our preference is that Albertans are working - more than 1.8 million people are in the workforce and it keeps getting bigger."

For John Schmeiser, executive vice-president of the Canada West Equipment Dealers Association - a trade organization representing the interest of outdoor power, industrial and farm equipment dealers in Western Canada - the seminars were invaluable.

The association, with 400 dealer members - 170 in Alberta - is facing a huge shortage of farm equipment mechanics.

"Our estimates are that we need 1,000 people in Western Canada to repair farm equipment," says Schmeiser.

"The demographics of agriculture have changed. We used to have larger families and smaller farms, and one of the boys would get the farm.

"Now we have larger farms and smaller families and there is such a negative connotation to agriculture with drought, frost and the BSE crisis."

Combined with a large demand for trades, a booming oil sector, and farm equipment becoming larger and more technically sophisticated, it's getting harder to find mechanics.

Schmeiser says some farm mechanics have left the industry and moved to sectors that don't require as much training.

After attending foreign worker readiness seminars in Calgary, a decision was made for the association to look at bringing in foreign workers to help ease the crunch.

"I believe we had close to 60 of our members who had job applications and we were looking for over 125 people," says Schmeiser.

At job fairs in Germany, at Bonn and Dresden, Schmeiser says association members made 12 job offers. About six of these people have since started working in Canada.

"We recognize that this is not the complete solution for our industry but it is an important component of it, one we are going to be pursuing in the future," adds Schmeiser, who praised AED staff for helping simplify the task of hiring temporary foreign workers.

"I think the biggest stumbling block out there is when it comes to recruiting employees overseas, people don't know where to start. If you've never done this before it can be overwhelming," says Schmeiser. "I was able to come back to my board of directors and say this is what is involved.

"What I got out of the information seminars is the process. It's still overwhelming, but those who were involved explained everything very well so we knew what we were up against. The whole process was clearly outlined."

Sectors targeted by the three upcoming seminars include the following industries, among others: Aerospace; agriculture; chemicals, petrochemicals and value-added derivatives; industrial machinery and equipment; minerals and metals; tourism; and transportation.

Additional details are available through Alberta Economic Development at the www.Alberta-Canada.com website.

(Laura Severs can be reached at laura@businessedge.ca)