CALGARY, AB- Employment in the Alberta’s oil and gas industry and the related construction sector is on the rise and expected to increase about 35 percent by 2023, according to a report by the Petroleum HR Council.

“Even if there is a dip in oil and gas activity, there is a huge labor shortage as many of the older workers leave and not enough young people take their positions,” says Trevor Mahl, CEO and Owner of Collective Recruitment, an Edmonton-based recruitment firm that tracks labor trends. “In fact in Canada just 18 percent of the workforce in the oil and gas sector is under the age of 35.”

According to Collective Recruitment, the labor shortage is not going anywhere anytime soon.

That said, Alberta has one of the lowest unemployment rates in Canada, at 4.4 percent in September, well below the national average of 6.8 percent.

“There is no shortage of jobs here and some are in higher demand than others,” Mahl says.