TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – The recent downturn in the mining industry has taken pressure off immediate hiring requirements, but several indicators point to what could only be termed as a malfunctioning labour market, which would only become more acute as the market recovered and entered a new phase of growth, a new report from the Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR) found.

The report outlined that the mining labour market was much tighter than in other sectors; for every job vacancy in mining, there were less than three potential job seekers across Canada, compared with the average of six job seekers for every vacancy in all other industries. This was one of several labour market indicators that pointed to the inefficiencies in the mining labour market.

“A tight labour market puts upward pressure on wages and salaries, as employers compete for a limited supply of skilled workers. Earnings in the mining sector have increased nearly 40% in the last decade – significantly more than the average for all sectors in Canada.

“Layered on to this is mining’s volatile business cycle and the challenges of recruiting people to rural or remote mining operations. If unresolved, this labour market tightness has the potential to undermine the competitiveness of Canada’s mining sector when the cycle does rebound,” MiHR executive director Ryan Montpellier said in a press release.

Less competition among job seekers was an issue for the mining industry, but a good news story for people considering a career in mining. About 95% of mining jobs were full-time and the average weekly earnings of salaried mining industry employees were anywhere between 25% and 60% higher than those in other sectors.

According to the report, almost half of the industry’s hiring requirements would be driven by the need to replace workers who would retire by 2025. About 33% of the mining labour force was younger than 35 years old, compared with 22% a decade ago, while about 40% of the industry was more than 45 years old and a number would be leaving the sector in the next decade.

The report noted that further evidence of labour market tightness was the dependence on a commuter workforce – those who live in one province but work in another. This was a mining-specific challenge – mining employers were three times more likely to use commuting workers than any other industry in Canada.

Further, the report found that employers had made significant efforts to address this by building a local workforce by attracting Aboriginal people, but MiHR research showed that this effort was constrained for several reasons, including that up to one in four Aboriginal people of working age did not actually participate in the labour force.

“The current market conditions have softened the gap between hiring requirements and available talent, but we are not out of the woods yet. MiHR’s research shows that the Canadian industry will need to hire between 86 000 and 127 000 new workers over the next ten years, depending on the economic outlook and industry performance,” Montpellier emphasised.

Some of the biggest gaps expected over the next decade were expected to be in trades and production positions, particularly underground miners, as well as machine operators and mine labourers. Scientists, engineers and technicians were also expected to be in short supply in the industry across Canada.

“MiHR’s research demonstrates the immediate need for governments, educators and employers to work together to address the major human resource challenges facing Canada’s mining industry,” Mining Association of Canada president and CEO Pierre Gratton said.

“The mining industry is doing a lot of work to attract, recruit, develop and retain workers across Canada. However, more can and should be done to improve on these efforts if the industry is to be prepared for the next economic cycle,” Montpellier advised.