Transforming Local Government Strategies for Mobile Workforces

Abstract

Labour mobility presents numerous opportunities and challenges for rural and small town communities. Opportunities exist in terms of addressing needed services for workers, while also presenting the possibility for community growth and stability by attracting new residents and businesses. Challenges include impacts like burdening existing service levels that are not designed to accommodate large shadow populations, problems with housing availability and affordability, and social pressures associated with large (mostly male) transient populations. In resource-dependent regions, work camps are increasingly deployed within or adjacent to municipal boundaries. This has prompted important, but controversial, questions about local government approaches to maximize the benefits, and mitigate the negative impacts, associated with such mobile workforces.