MiHR: Canadian Mining Labour Market Outlook

Press Release

Introduction

Canada’s mining industry has experienced a weak economic climate throughout 2015. During that period, the drop in a number of key commodity prices negatively affected mining activities, which in turn has cooled some of the industry’s immediate hiring needs. Recently, however, the industry appears to be entering a recovery phase. Yet, regardless of these significant downturns and anticipated upswings, many of the longer-term problems associated with attracting and retaining a skilled workforce persist. Even a temporary downsizing of the mining workforce may discourage new entrants into the mining labour market. This would exacerbate the labour supply limitations the mining industry has traditionally faced. As the economy recovers and the industry looks to expand production and rebuild its workforce, employers may confront even more challenges in finding the right people, with the right skills, at the right time. Now, more than ever, the mining industry needs to be looking at its future labour market needs and putting in place collaborative strategies to ensure it has a robust, appropriately skilled supply of workers — both now and in the coming decade.

Report Overview

In this report, the Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR) expands on its previous forecasting and analysis presented in the 2015 national outlook report for Canada’s mining industry (Canadian Mining Industry Employment, Hiring Requirements and Available Talent: 10-year Outlook — 2015). The analysis continues to explore the human resources needs of mining employers and contrasts them with the talent that is expected to become available in the coming decade. This report also places a spotlight on diversity in the mining labour force as it relates to potential opportunities for overcoming some of the industry’s labour supply limitations.

MiHR’s 2015 national outlook report provided a forecast of hiring requirements and available talent for the industry and this 2016 report further explores different perspectives on these forecasts. For example, based on the 2015 hiring requirements forecast, this report assesses the qualifications and skill levels required for the positions that will need to be filled — bringing further depth to the forecast, and providing additional quantitative and qualitative information about the hiring challenges facing the industry in the future.

The report is organized in the following way:

• Section One: provides an introduction and report overview, in addition to a brief update on the mining industry in Canada.

• Section Two: discusses the key factors that affect employment levels and impact the supply and demand for workers in the mining industry. The section revisits the findings from MiHR’s 2015 national outlook report and examines the forecasts for employment, hiring requirements, available talent and the gap analysis, in light of the current economic climate and outlook for recovery

• Section Three: explores the skills and qualifications that mining employers are anticipated to need in the coming decade. Among the topics presented, this section includes an educational breakdown of the hiring requirements forecast for the industry.

• Section Four: identifies key weaknesses in the mining labour market that undermine the industry’s ability to respond to fluctuating labour needs by creating and maintaining a robust talent pipeline; this section also investigates opportunities to strengthen the industry’s talent pool, including an in-depth profile of diverse groups in the mining labour force.

• Section Five: summarizes the report findings and draws conclusions about the major labour market issues and challenges in Canada’s mining industry.

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