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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Mining is gold for jobs

Sector expects biggest raises, most jobs

By: Martin Cash

Posted: 09/8/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Rod Cyr says his mining exploration firm Rodren Drilling is 'as busy as we've ever been.' (BORIS.MINKEVICH@FREEPRESS.MB.CA)

When it comes to the job market, you can't do much better these days than the mining industry in Western Canada -- which is no surprise to Rod Cyr, owner of Rodren Drilling.

Results of two national surveys released Tuesday -- one by Manpower Canada on hiring expectations and another by Hay Group on salary expectations -- give mining in the west the most positive profile.

Employers in the industry are among the group most likely to hire workers in the fourth quarter and Western Canada has the most firms likely to be hiring, according to Manpower. A survey by the Hay Group showed that mining is the sector projecting the highest average salary increase for 2011.

Cyr said while he's not necessarily looking to add people anytime soon, his Winnipeg-based exploration diamond drilling business definitely won't be able to lose any, either.

"We're as busy as we've ever been," Cyr said of the workload at his 30 year-old firm. "We had a down dip a year, two years ago like everyone else, but that wasn't a bad thing. Everyone was just too busy."

He said last year's slump in commodity prices -- and drilling projects -- gave him a chance to improve the company's infrastructure, which meant acquiring new equipment.

His staff of 80 people are out working on jobs throughout the region with crews in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario.

Manpower's latest survey shows there is a 16 per cent increase in the expectations of mining companies to hire people this year compared to a year ago and Western Canada and Atlantic Canada have the most favorable expectations.

When it comes to salary increases for 2011, the Hay Group survey forecasts a national salary increase of 2.6 per cent in Canada, with Manitoba coming in at about 2.7 per cent.

For industrial sectors, mining is at the top with a forecast average of 3.4 per cent.

Ed Huebert, executive vice-president of the Mining Association of Manitoba, said, "When we look at comparisons in pay rates with the petroleum, manufacturing, oilsands, we're right up there."

He said average annual salaries for Manitoba miners range from $72,000 to more than $100,000 with the more northern sites often paying premium rates.

The two largest mining employers in Manitoba -- HudBay Minerals and Vale Inco -- are both hiring and he said there are other encouraging developments that will likely require additional workers.

On Tuesday, the international mining industry website infomine.com had 1,400 job openings in the Canadian industry.

Canada's mining industry has seen a sharp turnaround from recession on the back of a strong commodities market as demand from China and other rapidly developing countries ramps up.

Canadian miners are also seeing an influx of foreign investors looking to buy into Canadian companies, the most recent being a hostile takeover offer for Saskatchewan's PotashCorp, the globe's top potash producer, from Australian mining giant BHP Billiton.

Meanwhile, the industry is facing a skills and labour shortage and needs to add 100,000 jobs by the end of the decade, says Ryan Montpellier, executive director of the Mining Industry Human Resources Council.

According to Manpower, Winnipeg employers generally expect a favourable hiring climate for the fourth quarter of this year.

Thirty per cent of local employers surveyed indicated they plan to hire more workers during the final three months of this year, 12 per cent said they expect to reduce their workforce, and the remaining 58 per cent said they expect to maintain current staffing levels.

Manpower said the net employment outlook for the fourth quarter of 18 per cent is up six percentage points from the same time last year, but down seven per cent from the third quarter of this year.

Nationally, 21 per cent of the 1,900 employers surveyed said they plan to increase their payrolls in the fourth quarter and seven per cent said they expect to make cuts, for a net employment outlook of 15 per cent.

That was up 10 percentage points from a year earlier, and four per cent from the third quarter of this year.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca

-- With files by Murray McNeill and CP

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 8, 2010 B6

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