Challenges & Opportunities:

• Due to our hot economy, Alberta is currently experiencing a labor shortage and it is predicted that we will require 100,000 new workers in the next decade to meet the growing demand. A key priority of the Investment Work group is to further attract skilled workers into the province.

  In addition to this, our partners are also interested in identifying & attracting new/ innovative technologies which can assist local industries to become more efficient and cost competitive.

• Alberta's major economic projects, particularly in the oil sands, require manufactured products that can be supplied from across North America. Opportunities may exist for firms located outside of the province (outsourcing) to supply Alberta companies with their products/services which are in high demand and unavailable locally.

Did you know that . . .

• Alberta consistently records the highest investment per capita among provinces, with a total of $60.3 billion in investment in 2005, and a projected $66.0 billion in 2006.
• " Increased investment in oil sands, utilities, information and communications technologies, manufacturing and business services is expected to sustain investment growth over the next three to four years. Conventional energy investment is expected to remain strong.
• Alberta has a dynamic and innovative business climate, as shown by its growth in the number of small businesses. Alberta enjoyed an increase of 8.8 per cent, or 11,633 employer businesses, between the fourth quarter of 2000 to the fourth quarter of 2005. This was the largest increase of all provinces.
• Over the past decade, Alberta had the highest rate of economic growth rate in Canada at 3.7 per cent. In 2005, Alberta's economy grew by an estimated 4.5 per cent.
• In Global Insight's most recent provincial forecast, Alberta's economy is predicted to lead all other provinces in 2006 and 2007 with respective growth rates of 5.1 per cent and 5.4 per cent.
• Global Insight also projects that in 2006 and 2007, the 'Wild Rose Province' will have the fastest job creation rates (3.5 per cent and 3.9 per cent, respectively) and the lowest unemployment rates in Canada (3.2 per cent and 2.9 per cent, correspondingly).