Come work for us, P.E.I. construction industry says in new campaign
Online portal lists jobs, training programs as industry needs hundreds of workers
P.E.I.'s construction industry has launched a multimedia campaign in its latest effort to battle a chronic shortage of workers.
Industry leaders unveiled one piece of that campaign Friday, a new online portal, Islandbuilder.ca, that lists job openings and training programs, with information for job seekers and for employers.
"We're seeing huge shortfalls in every area. Twenty-one per cent of the current workforce in the Canadian construction industry will be retiring in this decade," said Sam Sanderson, general manager of the Construction Association of P.E.I. "Right now we have over a hundred positions advertised [on the new website]."
The construction association is also reaching out through radio ads and social media.
It needs to recruit 1,800 new workers on P.E.I. over the next decade, according to Sanderson.
Allan Marshall, 24, is a new recruit. He is now working full-time as a first-year carpentry apprentice for a construction company in Summerside. Most of his co-workers are older than him.
"They're all wonderful guys, but they're a little bit older and a few of them I know are talking about retiring in the next couple of years and that's going to be a big deal because there's not enough young people that are replacing the guys that are retiring," Marshall said.
Wages remain higher in other parts of Canada and that continues to be a challenge, Sanderson said.
"It's really hard to compete with the other areas, mainly Ontario and Alberta," Sanderson said. "But overall you have to look at the lifestyle as well. We're not paying seven, eight, nine hundred thousand dollars for a home."
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