Thousands seek Alberta jobs at St. John's fair

Thousands of job seekers packed into a modest St. John's hotel Monday, overwhelming Alberta employers who had come east on a recruiting mission.

Prospective employees lined up for hours outside the Capital hotel on Kenmount Road, with cars parked along the nearby Team Gushue Highway.

Inside, employers said they were deluged with resumes.

"It's been like a zoo," said Dominic House, a recruiter with oil giant Syncrude, whose perks included a $20,000 moving bonus to Fort McMurray and two months of free housing.

"They're lined up all around the building and up on top of the hill. It's absolutely amazing."

Estimates of attendance ran as high as 5,000.

Truck driver Doug Fisher said he and thousands of others have no choice but to consider the dramatically higher wages to be had in Alberta.

"The money is not here on the island. That's the thing, right?" Fisher said.

"I hate to leave, because I love it. But you've got to go where the money is."

Even with an oil industry of its own, Newfoundland and Labrador is already in the midst of a skills shortage. Marilyn Tucker, president of the provincial Employers' Council, said things will likely get harder for local businesses.

"The real crunch for us is hoping to come in a few years— probably three, four, five years— and that gives us a little time to prepare for the big challenges," Tucker said.

Doug May, an economist at Memorial University who specializes in the labour market, said while the offshore oil industry is helping the provincial economy, it's not enough to compete with the much larger Alberta industry.

"I thought things would tighten up, but not this quickly, and not this dramatically," May told CBC News.

"You're in the middle of a hurricane in this frenzy of action."

May said employers in Newfoundland and Labrador will have to match wages paid out west if they want to stem the flow of people moving to Alberta.