The Okanagan technology sector has a labour shortage and part of the solution is recruiting skilled workers out of California, according to Central Okanagan Economic Development Commission executive director Robert Fine.

California is the technology capital of the world. It also happens not to have winter.
The Okanagan is an up-and-coming tech region, and we
definitely get winter.
So, can the Okanagan's tech sector recruit workers from
sunny California to fill a labour shortage that's happening in the local industry?
"It's definitely a strategy we're working on with (tech group) Accelerate Okanagan," said Central Okanagan Economic Development Commission executive director Robert Fine.
"We don't have enough tech workers, particularly in digital
media, so recruiting in California is the best place to start."
Fine refers to the Californians who might consider a move north as "economic refugees."
"There's been some layoffs in the California tech sector, again particularly in digital media, so we can take advantage of that," he said.
"They certainly wouldn't be moving here for the weather
because they have great weather in California, but we can tell them the Okanagan quality-of-life story. Plus, there may be Canadians working in California who want to move back to Canada or people with some sort of connection to Canada - friends or family - and they might be open to moving to Canada."
This discussion came up as Fine was commenting on the latest Thompson Okanagan and Kelowna jobless figures released by Statistics Canada on Friday.
The unemployment rate in the region in December was a relatively low 5.7 per cent, down from 6.6 per cent in December 2011.
In Kelowna, the rate last month was 7.5 per cent, a dip from 7.8 per cent in November 2012.
"I think the lower rates reflect that there is more business and consumer confidence out there," said Fine.
"The last couple of months of the year there's been more life and positivity."
By the time the unemployment rate falls to five per cent, a region is defined as having a labour shortage because it's hard to find skilled workers in certain sectors.
The economy didn't recover as much as expected in 2012, but Fine predicts it will improve enough in 2013 to push the jobless rate down further and spark labour shortages in more sectors than just technology.
Those shortages could come in health care, tourism and even in the big traditional sectors of forestry and construction, which have had a tough time lately.
Another factor is the labour drain from the Okanagan to the oil-and-gas sector in Northern Alberta.
Singles and family breadwinners may call the Okanagan home, but commute to high-paying jobs in oil and gas in the
Fort McMurray area on schedules like two weeks in and two weeks out.
In B.C., the unemployment rate last month was 6.5 per cent, down from 6.8 per cent in November.
Nationally, the December setting was 7.1 per cent, down one-tenth of a percentage point.

KELOWNA JOB FACTS

Thompson Okanagan
December 2012
Population aged 15-plus: 434,500
Labour force: 267,100
Employed: 251,800
Unemployed: 15,200
Unemployment rate: 5.7 per cent

December 2011
Population aged 15-plus: 437,800
Labour force: 273,300
Employed: 255,200
Unemployed: 18,100
Unemployment rate: 6.6 per cent

Kelowna
December 2012
Population aged 15-plus: 150,200
Labour force: 100,300
Unemployed: 92,900
Unemployed: 7,500
Unemployment rate: 7.5 per cent

November 2012
Population aged 15-plus: 150,200
Labour force: 100,100
Employed: 92,300
Unemployed: 7,800
Unemployment rate: 7.8 per cent