Major economies need more skilled workers, engineers: study

The United States and other large economies cannot find enough skilled workers, engineers and other in-demand employees, according to an annual study on talent shortages. The study, by staffing services ...

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When a recruiter called last year about a position as a mechanic in British Columbia, Paul Thomas said he could hardly believe it. Thomas’s annual income had dropped to US$40,000 a year from US$100,000 as business slowed at the Atlanta auto dealership where he worked. He’d filed for bankruptcy, his house was in foreclosure and other jobs were hard to find even with his resume posted online. Starting a new life in Canada sounded appealing.

You’d be forgiven for missing the key sentence on immigration reform in President Obama’s State of the Union speech last night.

OTTAWA — Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney says the controversial temporary foreign workers program should not be used to drive wages down or to fill lower-skilled jobs. Speaking to the Commons finance committee for the last time before his departure for London in June, Carney said the intent of the program is that it be used primarily to fill needs for high-skilled jobs temporarily, until businesses can train Canadians to take over.

After spending years searching for enough crude to pump, the U.S. oil and natural gas industry now is struggling to find and pay for enough skilled workers to tap the abundant supply in shale rock, putting US$100-billion in planned petrochemical projects at risk.

Tianjin’s Binhai New Area is short of 55 kinds of skilled workers this year, including safety inspectors and home appliance fixers, according to a list of technician shortages recently released.

Global prices for liquefied natural gas are rising toward record highs this year as increasing demand runs up against stuttering supply, threatening to drive up fuel costs in some of the world’s biggest economies. After a record, unexpected drop in LNG output in 2012, production is expected to grow only marginally this year.