There is no shortage of construction projects across the Okanagan but there is a shortage of skilled trades workers, and the situation could go from bad to worse.
“Seven hundred thousand people are going to retire from the skilled trades by 2028. Just in construction alone, that’s going to be around 400,000 people,” said Canada’s employment minister, Randy Boissonnault.
With that in mind, Boissonnault made a significant funding announcement in Kelowna, B.C., Monday morning that’s expected to help bolster the supply of skilled trades workers.
“Today we are announcing $5.5 million in new funding for the Build Your Skills learning hub,” Boissonnault said.
The cash infusion will help grow an existing online learning hub for current workers and those just thinking about a trades career.
“We’re going to be building a lot more online pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship resources to help further fast track people into the trades… say someone in secondary school, someone who just left high school, wants to kind of kick the tire and figure out, ‘OK, you know, what are the trades all about? Do I have the smarts to get in,’” said Kyle Downie, CEO of SkillPlan, which helped co-develop the learning resource.
The one-stop shop for learning about, preparing for and succeeding in a career in the skilled construction trades really got off the ground about four years ago during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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“That’s when we really put this up in the online learning management system,” Downie said.
According to Canada’s Building Trades Unions, the average age of a construction trades apprentice has been creeping up over the years and now sits at 27 years old.
“The reason why that age is so high is many high school curriculums across the country have changed. Elementary school curriculums have changed and so young people aren’t exposed to the possibility of a career and the construction trades … or any other trade,” said Sean Strickland, executive director for Canada’s Building Trades Unions.
The expanded online resource will also allow people living in more rural and remote settings the chance to explore the trades and embark on a career path.
“We have hundreds of thousands of people coming to these construction trades hub across Canada interested in entering the trades or thinking about the trades, kind of learning more about the trades,” Downie said. “So it is making a difference creating that awareness.”
The learning hub can be accessed on the SkillPlan website.
“If you want to get into skilled trades, now’s the time,” Strickland said. “The economic future is very bright for a career in the skilled construction trades right across Canada.”
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