Hot Seat

People are just not pursuing the trades as a career

The skilled trades in Canada a re in a bit o f an uphill battle. There is an agreed consensus within the trades that there needs to be more warm bodies filling the surge of experienced journeypersons looking to retire in the coming years.

According to the Canadian government, a record 700,000 skilled trades workers are expected to retire between 2019 and 2028.

And yet, there still aren’t enough people looking at actually pursuing a career in the skilled trades. The latest projections show that between 2021 to 2025, an estimated 163,785 new journeypersons will be required to sustain workforce certification levels across all 56 Red Seal trades in Canada, 115,500 of which will have to be concentrated in the top 15 Red Seal Trades. This includes trades such as boilermaker, plumber, refrigeration and air conditioning mechanic, sheet metal worker, and steamfitter/pipefitter, ac cording to the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum ’ s “Apprentice Demand in Red Seal Trades: A 2021 National Labour Market Information Report.”

A recent survey, conducted by 3M Canada titled “State of Science Index Survey,” asked respondents a series of questions focusing on the skilled trades. Of those polled, only 21 per cent currently has a career in a skilled trade.

The top responses for what was stopping someone from pursuing a career within this sector were “I had other passions I wanted to pursue for a career,” “I couldn’t afford a trade/vocational school to learn a skilled trade,” and “there isn’t enough career growth opportunity.”

As much as the industry has been working hard to fight the persistent stigma that has been associated with the trades, there was still 13 per cent of respondents that said they weren’t pursuing a career in the skilled trades due to the unfavourable stigma. And even more shockingly, 11 per cent said their family discouraged this career path.

The pandemic showed people just how important this industry is for the country. Without our tradespeople, we wouldn’t have the comfortable living spaces so many people were able to retreat to and work from during those long months of lockdowns.

September 2022 Volume 32, Number 6 ISSN 1919-0395

Publisher Mark Vreugdenhil (289) 638-2133 ext.1 Cell: (416) 996-1031 mark@plumbingandhvac.ca

Editor Leah Den Hartogh (289) 638-2133 ext. 2 Cell: (289) 830-1217 leah@plumbingandhvac.ca

Assistant Editor Francesco Lo Presti (289) 638-2133 ext. 3 francesco@plumbingandhvac.ca

Contributing Writers Roy Collver, Ron Coleman, Mark P. Evans, Bill Hooper, Glenn Mellors, Bruce Nagy, Greg Scrivener

Design and Production Tim Norton/Janet Popadiuk production@plumbingandhvac.ca

All articles and photos by Plumbing & HVAC staff unless noted.

PLUMBING & HVAC Magazine is published eight times annually by Marked Business Media Inc. and is written for individuals who purchase/ specify/approve the selection of plumbing, piping, hot water heating, fire protection, warm air heating, air conditioning, ventilation, refrigeration, controls and related systems and products throughout Canada.

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