A Nova Scotia construction company is joining an official delegation to the Middle East as the province steps up its recruitment of skilled refugees to help fill some key jobs.

It’s one of the strategies being used to address a labour shortage that has been affecting some essential services.

The latest recruitment trip follows a visit to Kenya last fall, after which the government announced conditional job offers to 65 health-care workers.

Dora Construction is hoping to hire as many as 25 workers at the Global Refugee Labour Mobility Summit in Jordan’s capital Amman that opens on Monday, March 6.

The five-day event includes a job fair.

“There is a well-documented labour shortage throughout the construction industry across Canada and in Nova Scotia,” said Betsy Sisco, who is part of the delegation as a recruiter with Dora Construction.

The company is still trying to hire workers from within Canada but has found that difficult in the current labour climate. 

“Jobs can get delayed and project deadlines can be hard to meet,” Sisco explained.

With a particular shortage of concrete workers, she is hoping to hire formwork carpenters to support the company’s projects around the province.

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