Canadian Mining Industry Employment and Hiring Forecasts - MiHR

Results from MiHR’s 2010 National Employer Survey showed that one third of respondents do not have any unionized
employees. However, at most sites where organized labour is present, over half of the workers are union members.
Of the employers with unionized employees, half reported that 51–75 per cent of their workforce is unionized, and over
a quarter reported that more than 75 per cent of their workforce is unionized.
Use of Contractors
As unionization rates fall in the mining industry, the use of contractors is on the rise. MiHR’s employer survey showed
that, on average, 13 per cent of respondents’ workforces are comprised of independent contractors. However, respondents
also reported contracting out some activities more than others. For example, the majority of respondents contract out
drilling and blasting, boring, and tunnelling activities. Education and training activities were also commonly contracted
out, as were transportation, material-moving, and heavy equipment operators and mechanic activities.
An Aging Workforce
The two main factors behind Canada’s aging population are the nation’s low fertility rate and increasing life expectancy.
In general, aging contributes to slower labour-force growth because participation rates for older age groups in the
population are significantly lower than for younger groups. What is more, the Canadian labour force is aging in
conjunction with the population demographics; there will be more older workers leaving the labour force over the next
10 years than younger workers available to replace them.
According to a recent survey from the Conference Board of Canada, Canadian employers from a broad cross-section of
regions and industry categories placed the aging workforce among their top priorities over the next five years. 16 The loss
of experienced workers and corporate knowledge was a primary concern, as were gaps in management and leadership.
Inexperienced, younger individuals without the depth of knowledge that comes from years of experience may get moved
up the supervisory and management ladder before they are ready, which could be detrimental to the entire organization.
Such acceleration also poses health and safety risks that are of concern to employers. 17
The mining industry clearly recognizes that mature workers play an essential role in transferring knowledge and skills
to younger industry workers. Employers’ efforts to increase mature workers’ participation rates include: altering pension
and retirement benefits to reward extra time on the job; enhancing working conditions (including hours and vacation
allotments); and adding medical and other benefits to address the needs of the older workforce.
Figure 10 shows that the largest age group in the mining industry is 45–54 years old, representing almost 30 per cent of
the workforce. This is significantly higher than the 25 per cent proportion for this age group across all industries in Canada.
Respondents to MiHR’s 2010 National Employer Survey indicated that, on average, more than half of their workers
are aged 45 or older, with the highest average proportion aged 45 to 54 years. In most cases, around 25 per cent of
the workers are less than 35 years of age, with less than five per cent aged 15–24. The youngest reported average
ages were for technical occupations (39 years), and professional and physical scientists (41.6 years). Supervisors and
foremen had the oldest average ages at 48 years.
16 Harnessing the Power: Recruiting, Engaging, and Retaining Mature Workers, The Conference Board of Canada, October 2008.
17 Many organizations have succession management programs in place to stream high-potential, younger workers for these roles. For more information, see
the MiHR Mining for Diversity report and toolkit.
20 Mining Industry Workforce Information Network