Oil patch cuts claim Alberta’s high-paying jobs

Province’s engineers start to feel bite of plunging oil prices, global financial crisis

CALGARY


“Most of it has been since the New Year,” said Nair Bailey, a long-time Calgary recruiter who keeps a running tally and says engineers let go over the past two months number at least 2,200.

“It’s all types, be it electrical, mechanical, chemical, process or civil,” said Mr. Bailey, general manager of Bailey Professional Search. “It’s cutting a wide swath through all the disciplines.”

Many of the engineers, some earning six-figure salaries, were designing the next wave of oil sands projects, which, just a few months ago, suffered from a shortage of skilled workers and a flood of imported labour.

But the dual collapse of credit markets and oil prices brought an estimated $200-billion worth of upgrader and oil sands expansion plans – some of which already employed contingents of engineers – to a standstill.

At some firms, work cancellations have been instant.

Globe and Mail