EDMONTON - Alberta may not have a coastal climate, but it does have something else to offer: jobs, and lots of them. The job prospects are even attracting the attention of a Fox News team who spent a whirlwind 24 hours in Edmonton this week, working on a story that could bring more American workers to our province.
Los Angeles-based Fox News reporter Anita Vogel and photographer Keith Railey were toured around the city by Mike Wo of the Edmonton Economic Development Corporation. The two not only interviewed Americans who have made the trek north for work, but also paid a visit to PCL, a construction company which anticipates several hundred job openings in the near future.
Vogel and Railey's trip was prompted by a recent L.A. Times article that hailed Alberta's capital as a land of opportunity.
In his piece, journalist Ricardo Lopez wrote that "Edmonton looks a lot like many American cities...The biggest difference: the unemployment rate here is 4.5%, and 'We're Hiring' signs are posted in almost every window."
In comparison, the December unemployment rate in the U.S. is about 7.7%. And in California alone, an estimated 1.9 million people - about half the population of Alberta - are looking for jobs.
While the Fox News piece is expected to be broadcast across the U.S., the California market is what the EEDC is especially interested in.
Due to its large size, Wo explains there are a lot of workers from the construction and energy sector Alberta companies would be interested in recruiting.
"We're ideally hoping that it creates enough awareness that people will start considering Alberta as a potential opportunity for them, and that they will look to us for potential work," says Wo. "And that eventually they will move up here and start work."
He adds that unlike in the U.S., one of the constraints on Alberta's economy is the lack of workers.
"So basically we have more opportunities than we have qualified people. So in order to help our economy grow, that's where we look at potentially bringing in new workers."
If the EEDC sees a strong interest in the Alberta job market following the Fox News piece, a recruitment fair with Alberta business leaders could be next.
The L.A. Times polled its readers online, asking if they would consider moving to Canada for the right job. 92 per cent said yes.
With files from Laurel Clark, Global News
© Global News. A division of Shaw Media Inc., 2012.