Engineering Labour Market Tracking System Labour Market Conditions 2009 - 2018

Home

Background

National Overview

Conclusions

Labour Markets

The Rankings

The Rankings:

The Rankings: Labour Market Rankings are set on a scale from 1 to 5, with ‘1’ representing a very weak market, and ‘5’ a tight market.  From the perspective of employers the markets might be described as follows:

Summary of Rankings: Rankings 1 2 3 4 5 Significant excess of supply over demand Excess of supply over demand Moderate supply pressures Significant supply pressures Supply constraints

Description of Rankings: Ranking Description 1 Significant excess of supply over demand … no difficulty in recruiting qualified engineering staff with 0-5 years or 5-10 years of Canadian experience at established compensation norms within the local labour market. 2 Excess of supply over demand … no difficulty in recruiting qualified engineering staff with 0-5 years or with 5-10 years of Canadian experience at established compensation norms within the local or regional labour market.  The geographic range of recruiting and the range of acceptable qualifications is broader than in 1 3 Moderate supply pressures … difficulty in recruiting qualified engineering staff with more than 5 years of Canadian experience, with industry or technology-specific skills, and with appropriate non-technical skills.  The time required to fill these positions is typically longer than historic norms.  Vacancies sometimes need to be re-posted.  Employers actively solicit applications from outside the local and regional labour market and reimburse applicants for travel expenses related to interviews, etc.   However, these moderate supply pressures are generally not evident in recruiting engineering staff with 0-5 years of Canadian  experience. 4 Significant supply pressures … difficulty across the board in recruiting qualified engineering staff in the local and regional labour market. It is normal practice to actively solicit applications from outside the local and regional labour market and to reimburse applicants for travel expenses related to interviews. Employers are generally obliged to improve offered terms of compensation and to assist with re-location costs. Recruitment difficulties lead many employers to increase their use of third-party recruiters and to increase their outsourcing of engineering and technology work to consultancies or staff the assignment with engineering workers from another region.  There is a significant increase in the risk of project delays and compensation-driven cost escalations. 5 Supply constraints … systemic difficulty in recruiting qualified  engineering staff.  International recruiting is common among large employers.  There is widespread perception that the consulting sector is working at full capacity and that there is little, if any, remaining scope to outsource engineering and technology work to qualified consultancies with a known track record.