Finding new workers will be the biggest challenge facing the Canadian mining industry over the next 10 years as the majority of its workforce reaches retirement, according to a recent labour report.
The Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR) launched the Canadian Mining Industry Employment and Hiring Forecasts 2010 report in an effort to estimate the manpower needs required by the mining industry as the wave of baby boomers reaches retirement.
Developed under MiHR’s Mining Workforce Information Network, regional forecasts of employment and hiring requirements were conducted for six regions: Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, Prairies, British Columbia and the Territories.
The study provides an economic overview and examines labour market trends affecting the industry. As well, it presents the forecasted changes in employment and hiring requirements at the national, regional and occupational level over a two-, five-, and 10-year horizon.
Demographics show that in five years, one-third of the current mining workforce will be eligible to retire. Not only will it leave a potential knowledge gap, but there are not enough younger workers available to replace them.
The report predicted that a staggering number of new workers will be required within the Canadian mining industry by 2020. It used three economic scenarios: contractionary (56,000 new workers), baseline (100,000 new workers), and expansionary (135,000 new workers).
“It is important to note in the three scenarios, the expansionary scenario, which is the one that we feel is the most probable, is still a very conservative estimate,” said Ryan Montpellier, MiHR’s executive director.
He said the expansionary scenario views moderate growth in the industry at 0.5 per cent a year. “If we go through another expansionary phase like the previous one (from 2000 to 2007), these numbers are completely underestimated and the challenge becomes that much more important.”
Occupations facing the most significant hiring needs are heavy equipment operators, underground and surface miners, skilled trades and professional occupations, such as geoscientists and engineers.
Several labour market trends impacting availability and quality of labour in mining are the aging workforce, productivity and challenges in attracting new talent.
With 59.5 years as the average retirement age in mining, it is anticipated there will be a loss of experienced workers and corporate knowledge, resulting in gaps in management and leadership. Recognizing the important role mature employees play, employers are making additional efforts to increase mature workers’ participation rates. This may include altering pension and retirement benefits, enhancing working conditions with flex or part-time hours and vacation allotments, and adding medical or other benefits to address the needs of the older workforce.
Increasing productivity was also recognized as an area that needed to be addressed. With fewer people available to do the work, companies will have to rely more on technological changes to improve output, as well as increase investments in skilled labour, professional development, and capital. Developing new or improved managerial practices, enhancing working conditions and adopting innovative approaches to work may also have to be considered in order to remain competitive.
A key component to recruitment will be diversifying the workforce by tapping into populations like women, Aboriginals, and immigrants. Women continue to have low representation in mining, with the majority of positions being clerical. The mining industry is the largest private-sector employer of Aboriginal people in Canada, employing 6.75 per cent. Their participation rates have increased 40 per cent from 2001 and more than 120 agreements are currently in place between Aboriginal communities and mining companies.
Statistics Canada 2006 show immigrants to Canada make up 8.7 per cent of the mining workforce.
Fluctuating commodity prices, which results in reactionary hiring practices, present challenges in workforce planning.
Montpellier said the industry doesn’t always take a long-term view and that it is important to manage its workforce more strategically by investing in the next generation of workers in good and bad times.
The MiHR Council just received $1 million in funding for a project to study counter-cyclical workforce planning to try to understand how to better manage a workforce subject to the "feast or famine" hiring approach dictated by cyclical markets.
Many mining companies realize the challenges and are making more effort to promote and educate youth to try and dispel the myths that mining is a dirty, low-skilled, labour-intensive environment.
“Industry needs to continue to work at positioning what modern mining is about,” Montpellier said. “It is high-tech and pays 66 per cent higher than all other Canadian industries.”
As the demand for skilled workers grows, Montpellier sees the role of HR becoming strategic to the organizations’ sustainability.
“If we can’t find the right people to do the jobs, the mines will not be operational and we can’t expand.”
