The province is investing over $600 million over the next three years into the Alberta at Work initiative.
Doug Schweitzer, the Minister of Jobs, Economy and Innovation, says this will help in addressing labour shortages.
“We want to make sure that from our post-secondary institutions to the opportunity to get people rescaling and upscaling opportunities that Albertans have the right skills for the jobs that are being created. Right now the only thing that can really hold back the growth opportunities for Alberta is labour shortages and skills that don’t match up with what the opportunities are.”
Some of the components of the initiative include additional spots in post-secondary institutions and attracting more foreign skilled workers.
Schweitzer says the Alberta at Work initiative will also promote economic growth and investment attraction.
“We’ve built out our film and television industry, we’ve built out our technology and innovation space, we’ve got more manufacturing happening in Alberta and more aviation jobs. Now that we’ve done all this work on attracting investment and plus with the big turnaround in commodity prices from energy to ag prices, we’ve seen this huge opportunity for us but there’s labour pressure in every area now.”
Our full Hot Seat interview with Schweitzer can be found below.
– Kyle Moore, Trending 55 Newsroom
