"Layoffs Loom in Alberta’s Oil Patch"

"CALGARY – It’s been years since David Yager has seen multiple 'For Sale' and 'For Rent' signs in Fort McMurray, the northern Alberta city that is usually crawling with workers from across Canada looking to make a buck in the oilsands boomtown.

In times when the province’s unemployment rate plunged below 4%, workers paid exorbitant rents to live in Fort McMurray garages. In late December of this year, amid predictions of a spike in the province’s unemployment rate, bachelor suites in 'Fort Mac' were being advertised online for $1,000 per month — still pricey, but available nonetheless.

Fresh off a trip to the city of 73,000, Mr. Yager said he is seeing more and more signs — like the ones advertising real estate — of a slowdown in the Albertan labour market following the swoon in oil prices. Some companies have already started ratcheting back. Houston-based Civeo Corp. announced this past week it had closed two of its 11 camps in northern Alberta and laid off 30% of its staff in Canada in anticipation of an expected slowdown in oilsands activity."

Geoffrey Morgan reports for the Financial Post January 3, 2015.