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 Meanwhile, an outdated perception of the trades has hobbled recruitment efforts.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.

Source: Skills Canada

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