Two Canadian industries warned Tuesday of looming labour shortages.

Two separate reports predicted the information and communications technology sector and the oil and gas industry will both face shortages in the next few years

The Ottawa-based Information and Communications Technology Council, or ICTC, estimated Canadian companies will need 106,000 employees between 2011 and 2016 and that there likely won't be enough qualified applicants.

The ICTC warned of shortages - especially of candidates with five or more years' experience.

The report recommended that industry, government and educators encourage more enrolment in post-secondary ICT-related programs, continue to integrate foreign-educated workers and shift post-secondary curricula towards more cross-disciplinary programs.

It also called for the industry to make more professional development opportunities available to employees and to embrace more gender and ethnic diversity in the ICT workforce.

The Calgary-based Petroleum Human Resources Council of Canada warned that the oil and gas industry faces "severe and chronic" shortages over the next decade, regardless of future energy prices and industry activity.

Its analysis suggested more than 30 per cent of the industry's present workforce is expected to retire over the next decade, creating the need for at least 39,000 new workers.

In addition, if the activity in the industry grows as it expects, a "staggering" 130,000 workers will be needed to fill new positions and keep pace with retirements over the next 10 years.