2024 is expected to be a busy year for contractors in Northern BC.
, 87 percent of BC construction contractors expect this year to be just as, if not busier than last year.
In Northern BC, 47 per cent are expecting more work than last year.
“Given what we’re seeing in terms of the challenges that the industry and our economy as a whole has faced, and if you think about it since the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic, we seem to have just gone from one major crisis to another,” said ICBA President Chris Gardner.
“First we had the pandemic, then we had the supply chain shocks, then we had the rebound from that, significant issues with inflation, and then we had the historic rise in interest rates in terms of the pace that the central banks across the world, including Canada, increased rates, and the pressures that put on business and households.”
Gardner said with those challenges, contractors saying 2024 will be busier year than 2023 was surprising, but it’s also good news.
“It’s good to know that this part of the economy, and construction makes up about ten per cent of BC’s economy, is strong and resilient in the face of some significant challenges.”
In addition, 88 per cent of contractors say they’re short of workers.
Gardner said there are two solutions.
“One is technology being more innovative, that’s not a short-term solution, but that’s one approach, and the other is immigration,” he explained.
“The challenge with immigration, is that we are now, and there’s been a lot written on this in the last six months, Canada has effectively opened the floodgates in terms of the record numbers of immigrants that are coming to Canada, and that is the challenge.”
Gardner said only two percent of the 450,000 permanent immigrants that came to Canada last year went into construction.
“We started the year last year with job vacancies in the sector of about 80,000, so we are doing a very poor job, if not, we’re failing, at understanding what the skills gaps are in our economy, and then attracting the people to come to Canada to fill those gaps,” he said.
“What we do need to understand is we have a significant skills gap in our economy, and certainly in the North, and we have to do a much better job of identifying people with those skills to move to Canada, we have to do a much better job in high schools to do the trades story, telling young people that if they’re interested in pursuing a dynamic, exciting career with tremendous opportunities, consider the trades.”
ICBA employers are reporting the average construction hourly wage will grow five percent this year, along with another six per cent in 2025.
With these increases, the industry’s average wage is expected to reach $37.51 per hour (about $78,000 annually) in 2025.