The challenge with skilled workers in the forest sector is similar to other sectors, whether it's construction or mining or others. There is great competition for skilled workers. While our friends in the oil patch might be going through some difficult challenges right now, we anticipate that the need for skilled workers is going to continue to grow.
We are working hard with our member companies to brand the forest products industry as an attractive place to work. We call it the greenest workforce, playing on our environmental credentials. We want to encourage young people to go into the trades.
We need skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled employees. We need everyone from truck drivers to warehouse operators to pipefitters and pressure vessel operators. We need a whole myriad of skills. We think the governments, both federal and provincial, are our partners in the education system and the apprenticeship system, to make sure we have the right flow of workers for the growth that we're anticipating under Vision 2020.
As I said, we need 60,000 workers between now and the year 2020. That's a mid-range estimate for us. If you look at a lot of my counterparts in other associations, they have comparable numbers. While we may have a temporary shift in the marketplace because of oil prices this year, three years from now we're still going to need those workers.