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Most of the roughly 35,000 jobs lost in the oilsands since the 2014 crash are gone for good, says a report published Tuesday by the Parkland Institute.

The massive capital spending phase of the oilsands industry is over, and the industry has shifted how it operates, the report concludes. Although production increased by about 23 per cent after 2014, jobs declined by 23 per cent.

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“It’s unlikely that many those jobs will come back, because the technology that companies were already advancing before the 2014 crash (has) accelerated and more companies are using that technology,” said Ian Hussey, author of the report and research manager at the Parkland Institute, a public policy research centre at the University of Alberta.

Those advancements include modular — or easily assembled — facilities, software advancements and longer-lasting materials in facilities and pipelines.

Even before Monday’s oil price plunge, global oversupply and looming carbon constraints signalled that capital investment is set to decline over the long term, beginning in 2022, said Hussey.