According to Economic Development Lethbridge, the number of workers needed by the local construction industry has dipped by 200 since July, which counters figures seen in Calgary and Edmonton.
“We’ve seen the construction sector actually lose jobs over the last number of months, so it’s a bit of an ongoing trend,” explained CEO Trevor Lewington.
“In fact, the construction sector has not recovered since the pandemic, and so that’s an exception to most other sectors of the local economy.”
Lewington said jobs in this sector within the Lethbridge census metropolitan area were at the lowest August standing since 2017.
He said he can’t pinpoint an exact reason why, but said it could have to do with slower residential development brought on by higher interest rates, or a smaller number of large-scale builds such as the University of Lethbridge Science Centre.
According to the City of Lethbridge, “new residential homes are down just a few from this time last year, but all other construction projects are still consistent or even up from what they were.” The city said the current overall value of residential construction at this point in 2022 is higher than this time last year.
“Although we don’t have any data, anecdotally, our planning and design department hasn’t heard of a rise in unemployment within the construction industry,” a statement from the city read.
The numbers caused some confusion for Erin Low, the executive director for Lethbridge Construction Association.
“From early spring until now, ours members are telling us that in commercial construction it’s been very busy,” Low said.
“It has stayed busy. Some of them are actually behind because they don’t have enough skilled workers.”
Low added that many workers took early retirement during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I still don’t think there’s enough people to fill the jobs that are there already,” admitted Sheldon Anderson, the Dean of the Centre for Trades at Lethbridge College.
Anderson said there is interest in the college’s construction trades apprenticeship programs such as welding, plumbing and carpentry, but the industry still has a gap.
“I’m still getting calls almost every day from businesses looking to see if we know anyone looking for work,” he said.
Those in the industry stress the importance of educating and informing the next generation about the construction sector in Lethbridge, including working with schools and getting youth involved in trades.
“We want to make sure that as other projects come to the city, as the construction industry recovers, that there is that (available),” Lewington said.
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