Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Redesign Rupert to Spearhead Labour Market Study of Prince Rupert area

The City of Prince Rupert is going to take the temperature of the labour market in the community, with Redesign Rupert the host office to better understand the composition of the city's labour force.

To launch the review, Redesign Rupert has put out a Request for Proposals with the BC Bid site seeking someone to conduct the Prince Rupert Labour Market Study.

With the project to put the focus on the current labour market, to identify critical shortages and to determine how future major projects in Northern BC will continue to affect the current local labour force shortage.

The study will also provide recommendations and strategies for recruitment planning, local education and training initiatives, as well as to identify quantifiable benchmarks for recruitment success.

The City of Prince Rupert and its
partners are looking to explore
the state of the region's labour market
The project is a partnership with Community Futures of the Pacific Northwest,  Hecate Strait Employment Development Society and Port of Prince Rupert all working with the City of Prince Rupert towards the program.

The Contract Summary of the BC Bid posting offers up a glimpse as to what the City and its partners hope to achieve from the work ahead.

Opportunities for local employment are vital to healthy communities. After the closure of the Skeena Cellulose pulp mill in 2001, Prince Rupert’s local population was considerably decreased, and residents struggled to find meaningful employment locally. 

With the rise of Prince Rupert’s port-related industries over the past decade, this is no longer the issue. Employment opportunities now abound in Prince Rupert, but the population has not grown at the same rate as the local economy. 

Data collected in the Prince Rupert Labour Market Study will help the project partners and other key local employers better understand local labour force imbalances and develop human resources responses to address challenges and support continued future economic growth.

As part of the Bid BC documentation, Redesign Rupert is seeking a consultant/consulting firm to complete the study, outlining their seven goals towards the program as follows:

1. What is the composition of Prince Rupert’s labour market? What percentage of local employment does each industry/sector make up?

2. Where are the largest employment gaps, now and projected? Which industries/sectors are in most in need of human capital, and which will be most affected in the future?

3. What specific occupations are most in demand/will be with proposed projects announced? How can employers in Prince Rupert prepare to fill these positions, either through external recruitment or local training & educational opportunities.

4. What factors specific to Prince Rupert are impeding local workforce recruitment efforts? (ie, rental housing)

5. What links can be drawn to a larger, either provincial or national, labour market imbalance? (ie, is this an issue specific to Prince Rupert, or is a symptom of a broader labour market issue?)

6. In which target cities/regions/countries would recruitment efforts potentially be most successful for specific occupations that have been identified as most in demand/most difficult to fill? (Identifying specific target recruitment geographies will inform marketing/recruitment plans)

7. How can we measure the success of a recruitment campaign? (Establishing benchmarks for success and analytics to measure them annually).

Redesign Rupert has a three phase approach planned for the study, the first to focus on literature and secondary data review, the second that of primary data collection, while the final phase will be the actual report writing.

The final report is to be delivered back to Redesign Rupert by August 31st of this year.

The project is open to consulting firms or individuals who offer up the following qualifications and experience as part of their scope of work:

Expertise and proven results in the fields of data collection, survey design, and data analysis. 

Strong project management, time management, and organizational skills.


Proven experience collecting and analyzing labour force data. 


The following credentials and qualifications are considered an asset towards the project: 

Local knowledge of the Prince Rupert, or Northwest Region. 

MA or MSc in a data-driven discipline such as economics, demographics, etc.


Experience conducting a similar labour market study, with link to previous studies supplied.


More background on the project can be explored through the BC Bid website

The deadline to submit a proposal towards the bid is 5 PM on Friday, April 12th, 2019


Celidh Marlow is the Project Manager, those who may have questions about the program can contact her at celidh@redesignrupert.com

City Council has not to this point, offered up any background notes towards the project, such as the estimated cost to conduct it and what kind of funding has been accessed towards it, or how the city and its partners plan to cover any costs related to it.

You can learn more about the work of Redesign Rupert here.

For more background on some of their past initiatives see our archive page here, a wider overview of City Council discussion themes can be explored here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review

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