Migrants predicted to fill one-third of openings
British Columbia is expecting one million job openings to 2022, according to a report from the Ministry of Jobs, Tourism, and Skills Training and Responsible for Labour.
Most of these jobs — about two-thirds — will be to replace retiring workers while one-third will be to fill new positions created by economic growth, said the British Columbia 2022 Labour Market Outlook.
Of the one million job openings, 985,000 would be from economic activity already confirmed or planned while up to 100,000 jobs would be from expected liquefied natural gas (LNG) activity.
The report predicts the demand for 140 occupations across the province over the period of 2012 to 2022. The occupation groups with the largest number of job openings over this period will be:
•retail salespersons
•cleaners
•administrative and regulatory occupations
•motor vehicle and transit drivers
•general office workers.
Three occupation groups are anticipated to grow at a faster pace than the provincial annual average growth rate of 1.2 per cent:
•health (two per cent)
•trades, transport and equipment operators and related occupations (1.3 per cent)
•natural and applied sciences and related occupations (1.3 per cent).
Given the aging population challenge facing B.C. and the decreasing number of new entrants to the labour market over the forecast period, the province will rely more on migrants as a source of new labour supply said the report. Migrants to B.C. that arrive during the forecast period are expected to fill one-third of the total projected job openings in the province to 2022.
The full report can be found at WorkBC.ca.
