Exploring Construction jobs in Canada might appear challenging at first. However, you must stay assured that this sector is currently expanding significantly across various cities and areas.
Over 1.3 million people in Canada are employed in the construction industry, contributing roughly 7% of the nation’s GDP. The most typical building fields are as follows:
- Single-family homes in both low-rise and high-rise buildings, Institutional, commercial, and industrial buildings.
- Infrastructure (utilities, water, and transportation)
- Mining
- Gas and oil
- Although theoretically a component of the oil and gas sector, LNG is a newly developing industry.
The need for skilled labor is continually greater than the supply. It is due to Canada’s aging population and general stable economic growth, which creates a strong demand for professionals and tradespeople in the construction industry. Canada, the second-largest country in the world, has only about 38 million residents, so it still depends on foreign labor to maintain its building industry.
Exploring Construction jobs in Canada – which are the most in-demand jobs in this sector
The following are the most in-demand construction jobs in Canada:
- Senior Project Managers – ICI Buildings & Infrastructure
- Project Directors – (institutional, commercial, and industrial) ICI Buildings & Infrastructure
- Commercial Managers & Contracts Managers – Infrastructure
- Senior Estimators – ICI Buildings & Infrastructure
- Senior Superintendents – ICI Buildings & Infrastructure
- Schedulers – Infrastructure
- Design Managers – ICI Buildings & Infrastructure
Professionals in the Construction sector
For construction professionals who want to work on the contracting side of the industry, a strong engineering or construction management experience offers a great technical foundation. The wonderful thing about the construction industry is that, despite the fact that having more formal schooling may provide you with an early advantage, anyone can advance through the ranks.
It is significant to note that Canada emphasizes immigration via permanent residence rather than bringing in temporary foreign workers on short-term permits, in contrast to nations like Australia, New Zealand, and the Middle East. Comparatively, more people in Canada than in many other nations that offer lucrative construction jobs might be eligible for Canadian permanent residence.
Exploring Construction jobs in Canada – Qualification requirement
It will be beneficial to possess one of the following degrees or credentials if you intend to immigrate to Canada and work in construction:
- Having a Master’s or MBA degree is quite helpful when applying to economic-class immigration programs in Canada.
- When it comes to immigration and employment in Canada, professionals in the construction industry benefit from having a degree.
- Greater Diploma Higher National Diploma (HND), B. Tech.
- Trade certification – This may facilitate your entry into Canada through the Federal Skilled Trades Program. It is one of Canada’s permanent residency programs connected to the Express Entry system.
Designations
- Following the provincial engineering organization’s acceptance of your engineering transcripts, you may attain the designation of Engineer in Training (EIT).
- Professional Engineer (P. Eng.) — Although less significant on the contracting side of the industry, earning the P. Eng. title is still highly regarded among engineers.
- A Canadian certification known as Gold Seal Certification (GSC) is regarded as beneficial for people who seek to pursue a career in project management.
- Obtaining the Project Management Professional (PMP) title appears to be a more appropriate global credential for project management professionals.
- Chartered Member (MRICS) – Particularly for Building and Quantity Surveyors. In Canada, the MRICS designation is recognized.
- Professional Quantity Surveyor (PQS) is a title given to quantity surveyors in Canada by the Canadian Association of Consulting Quantity Surveyors, akin to MRICS.
Moving to Canada as a Construction Professional
Being able to choose from a wide range of possibilities is one of the best things about relocating to Canada as a construction professional. Additionally, unlike other nations like Australia or the Gulf States, there are work permit categories that don’t require an occupational offer, and there is a direct, expedient path to permanent residence (PR), even if you do not possess a job offer or never resided in Canada before. Canada welcomes construction workers through a combination of PR initiatives and work permit categories.
Exploring Construction jobs in Canada – which locations should you consider?
Analyzing the information below about job patterns in Canada during the previous 10 years may be worthwhile. You can check your top location choices based on your industry of choice.
- Toronto – The Greater Toronto Area has a downtown area known for the CN Tower. It also comprises a growing number of skyscrapers, along with many important suburbs that stand in its shadow. The greatest labor market for Canada’s construction sector is located in the GTA, a vast region with more than 6 million residents.
- Vancouver – There are over 10 cities (municipalities) in the Vancouver Lower Mainland region. This area boasts a thriving real estate market and an impressive slate of infrastructure projects.
- There are many options in Montreal, the largest city in Quebec and the second-largest in Canada, but you might want to think twice if you don’t speak French well.
- The capital city of Canada, Ottawa, has a high standard of living.
- Calgary – Calgary is Canada’s oil and gas capital. Still, it is struggling as a result of reduced commodity prices and a lack of pipelines to transport its oil to international markets.
- Edmonton – Edmonton is Alberta’s oil and gas industry’s “blue collar” town.
- Fly-In-Fly-Out – If your objective is to work on remote projects, you have a variety of possibilities, such as LNG, conventional oil and gas, mining, or infrastructure projects. You can commute to work for your rotating shift even if you reside in a big metropolis.
When the industrial boom led to rising demand in the Construction sector – from 2009 to 2014
From 2009 to 2014, an industrial boom increased the demand for foreign laborers in all construction industry sectors.
Canada is a vast, sparsely inhabited continent with enormous natural resource reserves. Similar to Australia, the economies of both nations frequently exhibit boom-and-bust cycles with short-term fluctuations in the value of natural resources. Among other commodities, Canada is a top producer of oil, natural gas, copper, gold, silver, zinc, iron, potash, uranium, and molybdenum. While resource resources can be found in all of Canada’s provinces and territories, the oil sands region in Northern Alberta alone is responsible for one-third of the world’s oil reserves.
From 2009 to 2014, high commodity prices encouraged significant expenditure in mining and oil and gas ventures across Canada. Because extracting resources requires a lot of labor, the Prairie provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba) saw prosperity as workers from all over Canada and the world flocked. During this time, these provinces had population growth, which helped the regional economies of cities like Calgary, Edmonton, Fort McMurray, Regina, and Saskatoon. To serve the expanding population, each community in the Prairies needed new infrastructure and labor. Therefore, the shortage of competent people affected more than simply the natural resources sector.
The unknown facts
Calgary and Edmonton were vying with Toronto and Vancouver for foreign workers during this time because these cities provided more economic immigration opportunities and a cheaper cost of living.
Native and foreign employees moved elsewhere to work in the expanding industrial sector. As a result, this led to a lack of construction jobs in other areas of Canada. Foreign employees felt drawn in by the resource boom as economic migrants came in pursuit of opportunities. To participate in the oil sands boom, fly-in-fly-out (FIFO) employees from all over the world flocked to Fort McMurray.
To participate in the oil sands boom, fly-in-fly-out (FIFO) employees from all over the globe flocked to Fort McMurray. The labor deficit grew as a result of employers in Vancouver and Toronto abandoning a portion of their personnel to the industrial sector and needing foreign workers to fill the voids. Canadian businesses organized foreign recruitment drives during these years in response to the skills shortages that affected the whole construction industry. Because there wasn’t sufficient local labor to meet demand, firms could obtain approval to sponsor foreign employees to fill the labor shortage. An increase in oil and gas plant building occurred due to the increased oil prices.
The international prosperity began in 2015
Since 2014, reduced commodity costs have resulted in freezing labor markets in the Prairies provinces. There has been a decline in resource project investment and economic stagnation. Since the industrial sector has slowed down, Canada has made significant investments in infrastructure projects around the nation. These have assisted in absorbing many people leaving the resource sector. Since 2014, there has been a decline in the demand for foreign labor as Canada has concentrated on moving domestic Canadian workers into other industries. Employer sponsorship is now less widespread than it once was, but Canadian employers are still willing to hire foreign nationals who have temporary work permits or permanent residency.
Conclusion
The overall result of these adjustments is that British Columbia and Ontario are now receiving more attention from foreign workers. The economies of Toronto, Ontario, and Vancouver, British Columbia, which are both supported by tourism, film, and IT, as well as significant foreign investment, make them less reliant on resource prices and hence more reliable destinations for foreign employees. Both areas feature thriving residential, institutional, and commercial construction industries, as well as a plethora of infrastructure development as populations rise.
