Yellowknife (Aug 02/06) - It's hard to keep good help in Yellowknife these days.

A boom in construction, mining and exploration hasn't been good for everyone.

Many skilled workers have found work out of town at the mines, and many are leaving for school. It all amounts to a hard road for employers to tread.

Employment numbers According to a June 2006 Statistics Canada report estimate, in the Northwest Territories of 31,000 people 15 years of age or older, 22,900 people are employed. The estimates state that there has been a roughly two per cent increase in employment in the NWT. In June 2005 the unemployment ratio was 5.1, and in June 2006 the ratio was 5.8. The same report states, "The employment rate for the Northwest Territories increased 0.3% from May (to June 2006)."

"It's a never ending challenge," said Bonita Letemplier who manages Reitman's in the Centre Square Mall.

Small business and the service industry are finding it difficult to compete with large industry and trades who have the power to offer significantly higher wages.

But, there are some resources: last summer the federal government opened the Youth Employment Strategy office in the Panda II Mall and Jobs North has helped Letemplier out a few times.

"Jobs North's website is a very valuable tool," said Letemplier, who said she gets a boost in resumes when she advertises through them.

Dave Grundy, of the Workers' Compensation Office and a long-time Yellowknifer, said there is definitely a crunch in some sectors.

"The service industry can't pay as much as the oil patch," said Grundy. He noted that a similar situation is going on in Alberta with the oil sands.

"The underlying tone is the same through the city. It's retention that is difficult," he said

David Steele was offered a job last fall at Signs and Designs in Kam Lake, where he works in production. "The opening just came up and they offered the job to me," said Steele, who used to work at another graphic design company.

Steele was hired by Derek Burns to help with production at the shop

Many people come to work for a while and then move on, said Burns.

"I've only been managing for just over a year," he said, and already he is seeing an employee who has been there about a year getting ready to go back to school in Alberta. Another is leaving too.

"Basically I have to start all over and train two new people," said Burns. It takes him about a month to get a new employee trained.

Laura MacKinnon works with the Youth Employment Strategy.

In June and July combined there were 187 students who came through and 40 job postings.

She said many of the students are either fresh out of high school or university students who are looking for high paying positions.

Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce president Steve Meister agrees that it may be hard to keep skilled employees in the service industry.

"This is a bit of a new thing," says Meister. "A lot of jobs are being filled and it is pushing salaries up (in the service industry)."

Meister says it is partly because of the transitional nature of the workforce, workers are keeping their eyes open for new opportunities.

"I'd rather it be those growing pains than the others, like when Con Mine closed," said Meister

The growing pains are similar to those of Alberta, with Calgary's population just having hit 1 million and a job crunch due, in part, to the booming energy sector.

Dr. Bob Schulz, Professor of Strategic Management at the University of Calgary, said that some innovation in recruiting and retaining employees could go a long way. However, it's difficult for a restaurant to compete with the wages one could receive in the energy sector.