Oil and gas facing labour shortages despite competitive compensation

Canada pays fifth highest domestic salary: Survey

Despite being a global leader in many aspects of compensation and recruitment within the oil and gas sector, Canada is still facing skilled labour shortages, according to a global survey of oil and gas organizations in 53 countries.

Canada pays the fifth highest domestic salary and the 17th highest salary for imported talent, found the survey by Hays Oil & Gas and jobsite Oil and Gas Job Search.

And Canada leads all other markets in recruiting women, which make up 12.2 per cent of the workforce, compared to 7.8 per cent globally.

One-third of Canadian oil and gas companies expect staffing levels to increase by more than 10 per cent in 2012 while 47 per cent expect staffing levels to increase between five per cent and 10 per cent.

But there is a significant rise in Canadians leaving the domestic market to work overseas, found the survey of more than 14,400 respondents. In 2009, 3.2 per cent worked in the United States, and 26.6 per cent worked in other international markets. In 2011, those figures rose to 4.9 per cent and 32.7 per cent respectively.

Canada lags global peers in hiring foreign talent — 36.5 per cent of the workforce is imported, six per cent lower than the global average.

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