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The expected cutbacks are similar in scale to what happened in the 2009 downturn, says Howes, but back then the industry recovered fairly quickly as the global economy rebounded. She says the current downturn is more directly tied to the drop in the oil price.

The study says engineering construction firms are the most vulnerable, with roughly 75,000 jobs on the line, while exploration and development drilling could make up the second most losses with a potential 26,000 jobs gone.

Howes says oil and gas companies are increasingly looking at creative ways to avoid cutting staff including job sharing, shorter work weeks and reduced pay.

“Companies are really trying to balance that long-term objective of maintaining workforces and the short-term reduction in oil prices,” she said.

The study is based on spending patterns from previous years and what oil and gas companies have already committed to spend in 2015.

Howes says the study’s findings are similar to others done recently but it looks at all of Canada and at more job categories.

The job figures include both anyone employed by an oil and gas company and anyone who sells directly to those in the industry.

“It may be the helicopter pilot who’s flying for the industry,” says Howes. “But it might not necessarily be the person who works down the road in a restaurant.”

Last week, drilling firm Trican Well Services announced 2,000 job cuts across North America. The move followed job cuts at many major oil and gas companies in recent months.

Alberta’s unemployment rate was 5.5 per cent in April, the highest since mid-2011 but still far lower than the 7.3 per cent unemployment rate reached in late 2009.

Oil was trading at around US$57 a barrel Tuesday, a far cry from the over US$100 a barrel it fetched in May of last year.