Powering Up: Preparing Canada’s skilled trades for a post-pandemic economy

November 15, 2021

Key Points:

  • 25% of Canada’s 4 million tradespeople will need to upgrade their skills within five years amid significant digital disruption.
  • Canada will face a shortage of at least 10,000 workers in nationally recognized Red Seal trades over that period—a deficit that swells tenfold when 250 provincially regulated trades are included.
  • The most severe shortages will be among trades critical to the coming infrastructure boom, including industrial mechanics, welders and boilermakers.
  • Demand for digital and “soft” skills like creativity and problem solving is expected to rise significantly in these critical trades.
  • Over 700,000 skilled tradespeople are expected to retire by 2028. Meanwhile, an outdated perception of the trades has hobbled recruitment efforts.
  • Women made up just 11% of new registrants for apprenticeship programs in 2019 and continue to represent less than 4% of workers in the most in-demand trades.
  • Immigrants comprised 8.7% of apprentices despite accounting for more than 20% of the population.
  • Canada is falling short of its goal to bring in 3,000 skilled tradespeople annually through immigration, admitting 2,365 such newcomers in 2019 through the Federal Skilled Trades Program.
  • Educators, employers and policymakers will need to address chronic problems in the trades pipeline, tap into underused pools of talent, and address a widening digital skills gap amid rapid technological advances in the workplace.

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Source: Skills Canada