Union leader Gus Doyle says job prospects are improving in Alberta. (CBC)

As the price of oil rises, Alberta tarsands jobs are coming back, say Newfoundland and Labrador union officials, but the jobs offer fewer perks than before the economic downturn.

Oil is back up over $70 US per barrel, but the industry is leaner than it once was.

The president of the Newfoundland and Labrador United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners says that at this time last year workers from the province couldn't keep up with the demand from Alberta.

Gus Doyle said many of his union's 2,000 members found work in Alberta's oilfields, but lost work when the economy tanked last year. Now Doyle said some of them are finding jobs in Western Canada again.

"I would say we still got 200 or 300 members working there," he said.

But Doyle said workers aren't piling up overtime hours like they used to anymore.

"Now it's 40-50 hours a week, as opposed to 70 or 80 hours. So they're going to be more cautious about what they put in for overtime," he said.

The president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers' local in St. John's, Ann Geehan, said the change in attitude isn't isolated to the oil industry. Her members are seeing changes at the potash mines of Saskatchewan too.

"There are no flights. There's no turnaround. You got to find your own place to stay. Even though you do get paid money to stay up there, you have to find [accommodations] yourself."

But both Geehan and Gus Doyle believe job prospects will continue to improve. They expect that if commodity prices continue to rise, employers will have to spend more to attract new employees.