Canadians are the most educated people on earth when it comes to college and university, says the latest census – yet we face a crisis of jobs we can't fill.
A summit of 350 business leaders and educators warned this week that unless Canada starts training more people in skilled trades – from welding to drywalling – Ontario could face one-third of a million unfilled jobs by 2025 as baby boomers retire.
"We've lost our way in having pride in the skills that leave a legacy for future generations – yet Canada was built on those very skills of building bridges and roads and telecommunications networks; the skills that bind a large country together," said Len Crispino, president of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, at a symposium in Toronto about the province's looming labour shortage.
In Simcoe County, school boards offer students a chance to get ahead in the trades.
Trades ‘R’ Us is a free program for parents and students in Grade 8, 9 and 10, that is a partnership program run by the Simcoe County District School board and the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board.
This year, six programs are running in different communities throughout the county.
The program is a 75-minute presentation co-ordinated through the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program (OYAP), that lets parents and students know their options in the trades.
Andrea Brulé, an OYAP co-ordinator for the SCDSB, said the Trades ‘R’ Us program has been running for close to three years, but was recently updated.
She said the main point of the program is to let people know the trades are an option.
“We are trying to reach parents, so we are working with Grade 8, 9 and 10 with their parents,” Brulé said. “Often people aren’t aware of the opportunities in the trades.”
Brulé said it’s important to get the information out early so students will have the chance to get started on their trades while still in high school.
“There are programs now that they can take in high school to being their apprentice training,” she said. “So we are trying to give them all the resources that we have so that they can at least start thinking about it now, so they won’t have to backtrack after they finish high school.”
Starting in Grade 11 students can work towards their apprenticeship through the co-operative education program.
Students do the same training as adult apprentices, but are earning a high school diploma at the same time.
Brulé said that the OYAP program started nine years ago, but really came into its own in past three years once employers took notice.
She said the program has been growing in Simcoe County as well.
“We had just about 100 apprentices assigned last year, in various trades both male and female,” she said. “Everything from early childhood education, millwrights, welders, carpenters, auto service techs.”
For details on the Trades ‘R’ Us program, call 722-7742.
"How ironic that a country formed by tying one coast to another could be facing a shortage of everything from welders and plumbers to electricians and construction workers," said Crispino in a call for more respect for the skilled trades.
"It's fine to talk about the knowledge economy, but you can't hammer a nail over the Internet."
The latest census data shows that Canada stands first in the developed world in the proportion of people who hold credentials from either college or university – 48 per cent, compared with 39 per cent in the U.S. or 32 per cent in Australia.
The data also shows Canadian women outnumber men at university, more than half of immigrants have a university degree compared with 20 per cent of Canadians born here, one in five post-secondary grads has taken a business or marketing-related course – but only 10 per cent of young adults hold a certificate in a skilled trade.
