Career Planning
Many obstacles to finding, hiring and keeping apprenticesChanges needed to boost skilled trades employmentA new College of Trades is on the way in Ontario, and its stated goal will be to promote skilled trades employment and meet the labour needs of the economy. SHARON ASCHAIEK -- Special to the Toronto Sun |
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But some who've fought for a fix to the province's chronic skilled trades labour shortage aren't so sure this is a good idea.
"This is really a diversionary tactic. Business owners don't need more bureaucrats to tell them how to do their job," says Judith Andrew, vice-president, Ontario branch, Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses (CFIB). "The government needs to do more to get young people and others into the trades so that we won't have any big barriers to the growth of small and medium-sized businesses in the province."
The CFIB represents about 42,000 small- and medium-sized enterprises in Ontario, which account for 98% of all provincial businesses, and about 10,000 of these are in manufacturing and construction. Andrew says the vast majority of these businesses have reported that it is increasingly difficult to find skilled employees.
A recent survey of CFIB Ontario members found that 43% of labour shortages are in occupations that usually require apprenticeship training or college education. As well, it revealed that employer concern about the skilled trades labour shortage is at its highest level ever, with 59% believing it will become even harder in the next five years to find qualified employees.
'Lessons Not Learned' report
The CFIB's special report on the subject, Apprenticeship Training: Lessons Not Learned, covers what its members say are the biggest obstacles to finding, hiring and keeping apprentices. One leading issue is the provincial government's journeyperson/apprentice ratios, which require companies to employ a minimum of three -- and often more -- journeypersons for every apprentice it wants to train.
"In an environment where most businesses in Ontario have fewer than five employees, is it sensible to have rules that prevent these businesses from training people for their needs?" Andrew says.
Poaching of apprentices trained by a sponsoring firm by another employer is another serious concern of employers, the CFIB survey found.
"It's pretty frustrating when an employer invests their time and effort into training an apprentice, and then sees them walk out door to another employer or moves to Alberta for work. It discourages employers from doing this kind of training, because for them, it's all cost and no payback," Andrew says.
Another big barrier to boosting skilled trades employment are lingering public misperceptions about the nature of trades work, which the government needs to address, says Gail McCallum, vice-president and owner of Welding College in Barrie, Ont.
"Many people -- parents and teachers in particular -- have the attitude that you only go into the trades if you are a slow learner and have difficulty in school -- it is the last resort -- instead of recognizing that it only means you are a hands-on person who loves to build, create and get things done," McCallum says.
McCallum started her private college with a partner in 2001, and during that time, has observed that most people aren't aware of the extensive training that goes into preparing for trades work.
"Many trades take years of training, and then more years of hands-on experience to
excel in that trade -- most trades take as much effort and training as attending community
college or university," McCallum says.
McCallum would also like to see the government address the trades' union system, which she says contributes to the consistent labour shortage in the sector.
"They keep a closed shop -- any apprentices taken on are usually family members or friends. By doing this, they keep wages high and their numbers limited, and they control the number of tradespersons in that union to a certain degree," McCallum says.
Both Andrew and McCallum lobby the government in various ways to implement changes that will better integrate apprentices into the trades labour market.
Andrew says that so long as the current system is in place, it hampers the success of the key drivers of Ontario's economy.
"We are asking the government to put a real focus on practical measures that will enable small- and medium-sized businesses to
continue contributing to the resiliency of the economy," Andrew says.
sharon@summitmediagroup.com
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