Today, a single tear rolled onto my moustache and fell on my fixie bike as I learned that my life-long dream of being a hipster is not a valid career aspiration. As a part of a $15-million ad campaign, the Government of British Columbia posted the above pictured ad on a number of Vancouver area buses, declaring, “hipster is not a real job.” The ad directs viewers to careertrekbc.ca, a site that encourages visitors to take up a skilled trade. 

The campaign addresses a very real need: the province of British Columbia is facing a severe shortage of skilled labour. In fact, the federal government recently approved the hiring of 200 Chinese nationals to work in BC’s new coal mines while the province scrambles to train enough Canadian coal miners to take over the job; BC’s skilled labour shortage is expected to only get worse by 2020. While I question the slogan, it’s admittedly more eye-catching than advertising “The Glamorous Life of Coal Miners.” [Canadian Business]

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Igor Bonifacic is a writer working for the Toronto Standard. You can follow him on twitter at @igorbonifacic.