NB省高科技产业面临人才短缺

New Brunswick's information technology sector is not suffering from a shortage of jobs in the province instead it is running into problems recruiting skilled workers.

The New Brunswick Information Technology Council is arguing that it is up to the provincial government, the private sector and education institutions to solve the problem of jobs going unfilled because of a lack of skilled workers.


Larry Sampson, the council's chief executive officer, said the real problem rests in the lack of qualified workers and that is the result of several factors.

"Relatively low population growth in the province, very low rates of post-secondary graduation by New Brunswickers and some of the lowest rates in Canada in terms of enrolment in engineering and computer sciences," Sampson said.

Sampson said the long-term solution is to make the technology industry an attractive career option to high school students.

"The starting point is to figure out what we can do around the schools. How we can make kids more aware and more interested?" he said.

[B]Under-represented workers[/B]


Another option to fill the open jobs is to go beyond the traditional workforce and search for people who are not represented in the current roster of employees.

"If you look at aboriginals, if you look at women they're really unrepresented in the sector," he said.

The council estimates that 25 per cent of the sector's workers are women.

The Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission says women represent roughly 60 per cent of those enrolled at New Brunswick's universities. However, women make up fewer than 20 per cent of those registered in computer science, engineering and math programs.

In the short term, Samson said bringing in IT workers from outside the province or country may help solve the shortage in skilled workers.

"You've got places like Ireland, eastern bloc countries, India, Asia that have lots of talent," he said.

"We've got to get better at figuring it out and making it easier for them to get here and to stay here because retention is obviously an important issue."

He said the more high-paying jobs that can be filled in New Brunswick means more tax revenue that would help ease the government's financial situation.