Alberta’s Engineers: Revenues, Economic Downturn and Recovery

April 28, 2014
By Cody Battershill

Alberta Engineer Revenues Climb, But Not Without Strife

Operating revenues for Alberta’s engineering firms have increased by five times since the year 2000.

The latest data available to Statistics Canada reports that the sector made a little bit more than $9.9 billion with operating expenses at $8.8 billion, resulting in a healthy 11.4 percent profit margin.

Since the turn of the century, the number of engineering firms found in Alberta has gone up dramatically with particularly substantial gains between 2005 and 2008.

However, the economic downturn of 2008 resulted in moderate revenue decreases for all engineering firms, especially for those oil sands groups who saw losses of around 15 percent.

Oil Sands and Our Engineers

Alberta’s oil sands operations involve many different types of engineering disciplines including environmental, structural, petroleum, mechanical, chemical and geo-technical. These fields felt the brunt of the economic downturn.

But the oil and gas industry is not the only one to rely heavily on the skills of our provinces engineers. The construction sector, through building large commercial, industrial and institutional projects which require massive amounts of engineering, did its own part to help boost engineer revenues over the past several years.

Luckily enough, the economic downturn of 2009 was short-lived for Calgary’s robust energy and construction industries. Today there are several newly proposed skyscrapers in the works for the downtown core while oil sands operations continue full-steam ahead.

Statistics Canada may not have current data for Alberta’s engineering revenues in 2013. However, with the way things are going in our province, it is likely they have gone up even higher than before in 2012.

More Energy and Economics

Want to learn more about Alberta’s oil sands? First thing you should do is check out these Alberta Oil Sands Facts and Infographics – learn the truth behind our precious natural resources!

For more economic trends relating to Calgary, Alberta and Canada as a whole, be sure to check out our Canadian Economic Articles today.