Construction-phase extended commuting and uneven regional development: Work, households and communities in Newfoundland and Labrador’s new extractive economy

Abstract

Construction activity is intrinsic to the development of extractive industries infrastructure, requiring significant capital investment and large and varied workforces. The transience and temporary nature of this work, and the fact that local labour supplies do not meet demands in many resource-rich regions, have necessitated the development of a range of mobile labour practices. The specificity of such arrangements for construction phases remains underexplored. In particular, given that jobs requiring long commutes are framed as regional “industrial benefits” in resource development policy, the question of who can access these jobs is important. Focusing on Newfoundland and Labrador’s construction workforce, this paper seeks to answer this question by reporting findings from qualitative research on the social and economic impacts of construction industry worker engagements with long-distance commuting in relation to industrial benefits objectives. Situating construction labour as a key upstream element in the Global Production Network (GPN) of the volatile Canadian resource sector, the article considers the logics that underpin participation in this type of employment. Building on recent work that develops a connection between long-distance commuting, global production and regional development, the article goes on reveal the gendered household-level dynamics of these arrangements.