In an effort to help the construction industry better plan its labour needs, COAA issues two different kinds of forecasts: the first, a partnership between COAA and Buildforce, is a “top down,” macroeconomic forecast driven by expected levels of capital investment; the second, in partnership with the Government of Alberta, is a “bottom up” forecast, based on known and announced projects. The Workforce Demand Committee reviews the inputs and the outputs of the forecasts for reasonableness, and provides advice regarding the numerical models that help compute the forecasts. In addition, the committee uses its considerable contacts in the industry to gather up-to-date project information.
The BuildForce Canada Forecast is issued once per year, in January, while the COAA/GoA Projection is issued twice per year, in the spring (at the Best Practices Conference) and in the fall.