Working out west has become a very East Coast way of life. But as opportunities in the Alberta oil patch dry up, there’s now an exodus back east where the next chapter in many lives is about as uncertain as the future price of oil.

Thousands of east coasters are returning home after a precipitous fall in world oil prices. What was 80-90 dollars a barrel - and a peak of $145 a barrel in July 2008 - is now barely $30 – cheaper than a case of beer.

After eight years out west, Mike MacDougall says he’ll never forget the layoff call.

"The phone rang one Sunday, they said 'we no longer need you on the project,’” said MacDougall. “Two days later, my first girl was born."

Little did MacDougall know the layoff notice would lead to him spending every day with his wife and now eight-month-old baby.

"I just basically pulled the trigger,” he said. “I said, 'I want to work for myself, run my own company.'"         

The 30-year-old started his own electrical company back home in Cape Breton. It’s a risky move – and a far cry from the $150,000 paycheque he enjoyed out west.

But MacDougall doesn’t intend on going back.

"People strive to have this east coast life, where you can live as one big, happy family," said MacDougall’s wife, Stephanie.

Others, like Duncan Campbell, are still waiting things out. He was a construction surveyor for nearly a decade, but has been out of work for more than a year.

"I just figured it was a little bit of a waiting game,” said Campbell. “But it was a long waiting game. I'm still waiting."

For now, he is working at a local call centre. But Campbell is still scouring the job listings, hoping to return to the lifestyle he once knew.

"There's so many people competing for jobs right across the country. It's tough," said Campbell. "Every day you're hearing of people losing big assets, losing homes."

The socioeconomic reality of moving out west for money even inspired Nova Scotia hip-hop artist Classified to capture it in a song.

“So many of my friends go out for two to three weeks, come home for a week – that's been going on for years," he said.

Doug Lionais is a business professor studying the socioeconomic impacts of the Alberta downturn. He predicts it will last another six to 18 months.

Or maybe longer.

"The International Energy Association says these prices are going to last, likely for an extended period of time – and might dip even lower," said Lionais.

Lionais says the effects are already being felt back east.

"Construction, housing, our retailers, restauranteurs – they're likely already seeing some of this impact."

Hundreds are coming home without jobs to a region that already has some of the country's highest unemployment rates.

And when unemployment is high, so too can be despair.

“We see issues, unfortunately, of addictions, domestic violence, crime,” said Lionais. “These things can be associated with these types of downturns."

Some, like Duncan Campbell, face the prospect of having to find a new career at middle age.

"I think things will rebound,” he says. “But it seems every time there's a downturn, things never come back the same."

Others are banking on big projects in the Maritimes, including Irving shipbuilding, the Maritime Link, and the proposed Energy East pipeline.

But Lionais believes these aren’t long-term answers.

"One would suggest that the way we've been going about it for the last 50 years – looking for the next big saviour – is probably not going to work."

MacDougall feels he is living proof that opportunities do exist back home if you’re willing to reinvent yourself.          

"There is quite a bit of work if you are willing to get up in the morning and go look for it,” he said.

If Alberta gets booming again, Maritimers will likely play a part. In the meantime, these lifelong labourers will keep working away, whether at home, or wherever opportunity takes them.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Ryan MacDonald.