The Skills Shortage - Women in the Skilled Trades

The skills trade shortage is impacting every province in Canada. Nearly one million positions will open up nationwide due to retirements by 2020, according to the Conference Board of Canada. The Ministry of Skill Development and Labour has identified the Construction industry as a future pressure area that we must monitor to ensure that skills shortages do not become unmanageable. The Construction Sector Council (CSC) estimates that during the next ten years, the Canadian construction industry will need to replace more than 150,000 retiring workers 19 per cent of the current workforce in addition to hiring new employees. In British Columbia, 22,644 construction workers about 2,500 per year are expected to retire between 2005 and 2014. According to the BC Work Futures website, the provincial construction industry can expect a total of 4,690 new job openings a year between now and 2011, due to a combination of retirements and jobs newly created because of industry growth.

The current strategy of hiring foreign workers to fill labour gaps is a temporary solution that ignores the potential contribution of half the provinces population. Current as well as anticipated long-term trade shortages provide a rich opportunity to focus the attention on increasing the participation of women in skilled trades.

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