The pandemic highlighted the importance of Essential workers in delivering goods, manufacturing necessity products and maintaining public services and infrastructure. Covid also revealed, with glaring clarity, that we’re facing a severe skilled labour shortage. It’s happening in every service sector including healthcare and now a lack of qualified pilots just as travel is returning to 2019 levels.
Ontario is facing an acute shortage of workers and projections indicate that by 2026, one in five jobs will be in skilled trades. Data suggests the need to replace retiring trade workers is greater than for employees in other occupations. In 2019, one in three journeypersons were aged 55 years or older. To deliver on the government’s infrastructure plan and the projected 1.5 million new homes by 2031, Premier Ford has said, “Some 72,000 workers will be needed in the next fours years in Construction, alone.”
With record high job vacancies in key Essential service sectors, attempts to attract young people, women and immigrants has fallen short of expectations and companies are unable to fill job openings left by retiring workers. It leaves a projected gap of 60,000 registered apprentices by 2025.
Registrations were rising before Covid closures and have plunged 37% with pre-pandemic levels, as of yet to recover. Industries are hoping that full employment and rising wages will have some young people consider a better standard of living without incurring expensive student debt. The province will need a wholesale cultural shift if the majority of young people will consider entering the skilled trades as a viable career option and equivalent to the post-secondary education choices of university or college.
The Gold-Standard of an Apprenticeship Programs
Germany proves it’s possible to base a Western economy on quality manufacturing and to prioritize building things over providing services. The country sets a gold standard for skill trade participation (apprenticeship registrations) as a percentage of the population, 18% of 83 million people. That’s over three times more than Canada at 5.7% for 38 million people.
Germany’s industrial power was established by a core group of family-owned businesses, many dating back to the 19th century. These companies planned, prepared and collectively contributed to the long-term growth and profitability of their economy. They prided themselves on quality engineering and invested in social obligations to their local communities. The foundation of the German Apprenticeship System (Ausbilding) is the institutionalized and codified relationships between shared interest partners, The Chambers of Commerce, trade associations, unions, educators and government, equally accountable for support.
In addition to skilled trade sectors like Construction and Transportation, apprenticeships there are available in a wide-range of fields including IT, finance, marketing, travel and customer service. Unlike Canada, Ausbilding begins with candidates applying directly to companies they want to work with. Chosen applicants are screened and selected for sponsorship for the apprenticeship period, approximately three years. The Chamber of Commerce administers and regulates the duration of the contract, training content, probationary period, compensation package and termination.
German companies want to train their employees because they know the vocational schools can’t do it effectively, especially in today’s tech-enabled marketplace. While technical proficiency is important, they also look to ensure employees have the skills to solve problems, improvise when things go wrong and implement improvements when they see an opportunity to make things better. There’s a 70/30 split between on the job training and in-school learning.
A key indicator for the success of the German commitment to training their next generation of skilled workers, 54.%% of graduates from general education (our equivalent of high school) enter apprenticeship programs and two thirds of apprenticeship graduates stay with the sponsoring employer.
Ontario’s Plan for Attracting Skilled Trades
Since 2020, Ontario has invested nearly $ 1 billion to make the skilled trades more welcoming for students, women and immigrants. The province is establishing a framework for a graduated credentialing system and has a growing ecosystem of partners sponsoring skilled trade development programs. The average age of people entering skilled trades is currently 29 and the government is hoping to lower the median age to 22 years.
As part of the Ontario skilled trades strategy to bridge the workforce shortage, a variety of apprenticeship programs, incentives, skills development and support resources are exposing young people to a career in the trades and giving students practical experience. Employers are increasingly reluctant to take on new apprentices, often citing the operating risks of lower productivity and financial burden without government support or consistent funding incentives.
There should be a more committed and collective effort, to delivering long-term solutions for skilled trade shortages. Only one in five companies currently employing skilled trades participates in apprenticeship training programs. Ontario businesses need a coordinated and shared contribution approach to apprenticeship training responsibility.
The next round of consultations starts in the fall (2023) with employers, unions, educators and parents discussing ways to make it easier for young people to enter apprenticeships while securing high school diplomas and arriving ready to enter the workforce faster with relevant skills. For the government to secure the future workforce needed to build all those houses, transit line extensions and green infrastructure projects, will require everyone prioritizing strategies for attracting a lot more people to the skilled trades.
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