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BC’s Looming Skilled Labour Shortage

The government's new approach to training takes fire from labour.

By Darryl Greer, 13 May 2005, TheTyee.ca

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Doug Gillis, owner of North Shore Electric, struts into the Mosquito Creek Bar & Grill in North Vancouver. He looks tired as greets two friends he's meeting for a drink. A shortage of skilled labour is predicted to hit B.C. within the next decade, but Gillis is feeling it already.

"I'm already overbooked and I could work literally 24 hours a day, seven days a week," he says.

Reports by the Canada West Foundation, the B.C. Federation of Labour and the B.C. Business Council have all warned of the skilled labour crisis. It would drive up costs and bust budget estimates on big projects. With the 2010 Olympics fast approaching and construction a bright spot in BC's economy, that's the making of a big election issue.

What's causing the shortage and how to fix it is hugely controversial, however.

A hot button is B.C.'s new apprenticeship system. Ushered in by the BC Liberals, no one can agree on whether it's part of the problem or the solution. They can't even agree on how to calculate whether the number of apprentices is growing or shrinking.

'Shot in the arm' needed

"There's so much work there and I just hope our B.C. government will realize that they have to put some more money into the trades and the apprenticeship programs and give it the shot in the arm it needs," says Gillis, an electrician for over 25 years.

That shot in the arm is what the BCFed has been talking about for months. In November last year the BCFed released a discussion paper lambasting the government for not taking proper action. The BCFed says the provincial government has radically changed B.C.'s apprenticeship system for the worse.

"The changes make it more difficult, more expensive and more frustrating for workers to access and achieve full trade qualifications," the BCFed says. "At exactly the time we need to find new ways and more people to enter trades training, the provincial government's changes are moving B.C. down the wrong track."

Those changes came in the form of the Industry Training Authority Act of 2003. The act dissolved the Industry Training and Apprenticeship Commission brought in by the NDP in the mid 90s. Under ITAC, counsellors province wide tracked and registered apprentices, and scheduled technical training and exams. Under the new Industry Training Authority, those counsellors don't exist, and it's up to the individual apprentice to check in and log their hours and training.

The counsellors were important, the BCFED says, especially for non-union apprentices because they ensured apprentices received their proper wage.

The province now spends over $70 million on apprenticeship training, but the BCFed says that's still not enough.

"Over the next four years, B.C. needs to double its training effort if we are going to solve the looming skills shortage," the BCFed says. "That means training 30,000 apprentices and increasing the budget for trades training to $150 million."

The changes frustrate Irma Mohammed, director of education, apprenticeship and youth issues with the BCFed.

"Prior to the change, [ITAC] had offices and had counsellors and had staff where you could register as an apprentice," says Mohammed. "There was somebody there who could advise you and get you the information you need to go through. Now all they have is a 1-800 number, they have no staff."

'Left in the lurch'

However, Lisa Dooling, marketing and communications director with the Industry Training Authority dismisses the BCFed's misgivings as pre-election haranguing. Dooling boasts that the ITA has upped the number of apprentices, but does acknowledge that the new system no longer has counsellors to help would-be apprentices.

"We've only been around up and running fully for about 10 or 11 months," Dooling says. "Between the time when ITAC was disbanded and the ITA was legislated there was a gap where a lot of people I think felt they were left in the lurch. There was no system in place, and we're still feeling the carry over effect of that."

Dooling cites numbers to bolster her case, claiming that in January there were 18,985 registered apprentices, up from 14,676 in March of last year. But the BCFed argues that those numbers compare apples to oranges by lumping in apprentices who aren't getting full training as well as a growing number of apprentices who haven't been involved in active training for 18 months. Dooling insists the new system is more effective and responsive to industry needs. ITAC was too slow, Dooling says, partly because it was operated within a ministry and not at arms length like the new system.

"[The old system] was a very consultative system, so industry was at sort of an advisory capacity, but there was this big bureaucracy trying to interpret what industry required rather than sort of putting them in the driver's seat, and that's been the most fundamental shift."

Furthermore, Dooling doesn't fully understand the BCFed's problems with the ITA.

"I'm not sure why they're saying it makes it difficult for people to complete [their training]. We're trying to create more unique ways that encourage people to complete," Dooling says. "There's also all kinds of policies in place now where apprentices can challenge exams. If they can prove competency and pass assessments they may never even take the technical training. So all those things actually facilitate greater completion rates."

But one needs to know their stuff if they're going to challenge an exam, says North Shore Electric's Doug Gillis.

"I had an apprentice who decided to challenge first year and he failed miserably. He got 34 per cent or 36 per cent… [you need] 70 per cent to pass," Gillis says.

How full the training?

Labour groups complain that the new system allows for fragmented or modularized training. Apprentices learn one aspect of a trade, for example house framing, and receive credentials after a few months instead of after the usual four years of training. Unions contend that this waters down qualifications, and in turn lowers wages.

"Those [programs] were approved because different industry bodies came to us and said 'we need framers now, we don't need people who have completed a four year carpentry apprenticeship, we have a demand for these people now,'" Dooling says. "They wouldn't have been approved if they couldn't lead to that full carpentry apprenticeship."

Apprenticeship credentials for most trades fall under the Red Seal Program. Having Red Seal certification is known as having a ticket, and allows one to work anywhere in Canada, excluding Quebec. But if an apprentice only has credentials for one module of training in a certain trade, the mobility that a Red Seal journeyman enjoys doesn't apply, according to the BCFED.

But while unions and labour groups criticize the new apprenticeship system, plenty of businesses and organizations are praising it as just what the doctor ordered. Gord Stewart, assistant vice president of the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association and ITA board member, says the old system was inflexible.

"The ways the training was being done didn't really reflect the way that our guys organized their businesses," he says.

'More less qualified people'

But the ICBA's membership is divided.

Frank Siegmann owns Coldwave Refrigeration in North Vancouver and is an ICBA member. He says the new training model will do more harm than good, and if given a choice between hiring a Red Seal certified person versus someone trained in a new specialized program, it would be no contest.

"Anybody down in the States, if you go down there with a Red Seal they snap you up. They think we're gods down there because they have [fragmented] training I believe, like in California," Siegmann says, adding that the new training model in B.C. was likely a ploy to circumvent union bureaucracy. "There's going to be more less qualified people, and I don't think that's what you need, especially in this trade. I think you need more qualified people, people who know everything so to speak."

But Axel Gringmuth of ETS Electric, also an ICBA member in North Vancouver, thinks the new system is a step in the right direction.

"They make it simpler and faster and they can react to necessary changes in the industry quicker-that's the theory of it," Gringmuth says.

Furthermore, Gringmuth says a Red Seal ticket is great, but if hiring someone to do a specific task, a full-scope electrician is not necessary. For someone who only wires houses, say, "why do I need a guy who knows how to hook up high tension wires?" asks Gringmuth. "That's sort of like saying you've got to be a brain surgeon before you can stitch up someone's cut on the hand."

Coordinated effort needed

With an estimated $16 billion in construction projects over the next five years, the demand for skilled construction trades is bound to grow say analysts.

The federal government established the Skilled Trades Promotion Project because the skills shortage is Canada wide. Nearly one million positions will open up nationwide due to retirements by 2020, according to the Conference Board of Canada.

The Canada West Foundation in January this year released Toward a Bright Future: Recommendations for Addressing Skills Shortages in Western Canada. Todd Hirsch, chief economist with the CWF and author of the report, says it's up to industry, government, and educators at all levels to solve the problem.

The report echoes many of the BCFED's recommendations, including increased funding for apprenticeship programs.

"The first recommendation I make is governments and industry are going to have to be putting more [money] into the post secondary system," Hirsch said in a phone interview.

Hirsch also recommends more cooperation between trade schools to make it easier for students to transfer between institutions.

Olympics bottom line at risk?

If the shortage isn't staved off, Hirsch fears the consequence will be economic turmoil as wages escalate.

For example, when the government attempts to budget for a venue for the 2010 Olympics, "by 2008 when we actually get around to building it, the cost may now be much higher because there aren't enough workers and wages have escalated," he says.

One solution may be bringing in skilled immigrants to fill the void, Hirsch says.

Tom Kozar, a retired 27-year trade instructor with BCIT and active member of the B.C. Government Employees Union, says the problem lies with the ministry of education.

"People have turned their eyes away from the need for plumbers, and pipe fitters, and boilermakers, and heavy duty mechanics, and all of that stuff, and society has focused on university," Kozar says. "Now everybody talks about trades and they think that somehow you've got to have a size two hat and a 19 inch neck to be a tradesman-that's not true."

An Ipsos-Reid poll last year found that while six out of 10 parents said they would recommend a career in the trades to their kids, 59 per cent of youth said their parents have not pushed them towards the trades. In addition, nearly half of parents and 41 per cent of youth polled thought trades involve hard, physical labour. Finally, over seven out of 10 youth polled said their school counsellors have not encouraged them to enter the trades.

Back at the bar, Doug and his two buddies raise a shot of Jack Daniels. Doug's confident he'll be riding high throughout the skills shortage, but for regular people he's not so sure.

"If the government doesn't do anything about this problem -- be forewarned -- they're going to pay dearly for it," Doug says. "I can see what's happening and it's scaring the hell out me.

"I pity the homeowner who's got to find a trade. We're going to have to open our doors to people from Alberta or in the states. I don't have the answer to it, but the government better come up with something."

Darryl Greer is a journalist in North Vancouver. [Tyee]

17 Comments:

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  • lynn

    7 years ago

    Comments on "BC’s Looming Skilled Labour Shortage&qu

    Good article, Darryl. Again this is how the Fiberals operate. Reduce everything to shambles and hide the information from the public. Conceal and cover-up. Nothing is ever clear or above board with them and slyly calculated to be so.

    It should be easy to determine the exact number of apprentices who have completed training. But no...they introduce this piecemeal approach to training, where all the qualification levels blur. This is a real safety concern in the workplace and a hazard to workers, who may be working alongside someone who has not completed his or her training. I have heard a lot of guys complaining about how safety on the jobs is now a real concern.

    'Course there are also rumours that allowing the trades to slide to dangerous levels of shortage will pave the way to allow foreign workers to come in and take jobs that should be ours...sound familiar?. I have also heard that "our" EI fund is being used right now to train foreign workers to do exactly that.

  • sirjohna

    7 years ago

    pump it up tyee!

  • Bailey

    7 years ago

    Dear sirj, Put that down, it's not a pump handle.

    I can't resist pointing out that Germany, the very country our Liberals say are best qualified to build our ferries, while BC workers aren't good enough even to be allowed to bid on them, have one of the best apprenticeship programs in the world.

    A real publicly funded program where school kids can choose a track that lets them do half their year in real industrial programs, in real industrial settings learning from masters to do the real work.

    If any of you Liberals want to find out about it, just ask your BMW mechanic, next time the old Beamer needs a service.

  • crh

    7 years ago

    Gordon Campbell can't understand labour issues at all. He simply goes to the bottom line on everything, and that is his answer.

    I agree that the blue collar trade just does not attract people anymore. Years of no respect for these professions by Canadian society will do that. Of course, once incomes catch up, then we may see more entering into these fields.

    Importing cheep labour from South America is already happening in the oil patch in Alberta. Although I'm sure the double standard will come thru and training will be offered to those boys and not our own.

  • ameynert

    7 years ago

    "Once incomes catch up"??

    Are you kidding? After a 5 year degree (including co-op terms, so I had almost 2 years of actual work experience) in computer science, I was making 50k/year. My younger brother has recently finished his 2nd year of apprenticeship in the industrial electrician program. He was recruited to a job paying 25% more.

    I'm now finishing my MSc in computer science and genetics, moving on to a PhD in the fall. Maybe eventually I'll be a professor and making as much or more than my little brother, but in the meantime he'll have been making a consistent good salary, getting his ticket, and building up his work experience. We've both made what I feel are good choices, but I have to say, he's made the one with more instant $$$$!

    P.S. Ever heard of a poor plumber?

  • brew

    7 years ago

    The issue of trades shortages is bunk. I worked in the construction industry in BC for thirty four years retiring in 01. I teach trades skills at our local college. What we see right now is called full employment. There are more than enough tradesmen in Canada to do the work. The problem is the federal and provincial governments refuse to offer tax incentives to trades people to move where the work is. Yes, look at European countries, projects are required to factor in living allowances for tradesmen who must be brought in from other provinces and states. They are called journeymen.
    A parent who advises their child to concider the trades is sending them on a trip to hell. There are few if any unionized contractors left in BC or Canada for that matter. In BC union work is less than 10% of total spending. 98 % of tradesmen drop out before age 55 because of cronic pain. No pension No health Nice career choice.
    The building Trades unions have a lot to do with this state of affairs. They insist on strict 'kraft ' division of labour on building sites which has led to up to 30% redundancy in some cases but always 15%. Canada and the USA are the only jurisdiction on earth where construction is organized this way. That is why The building Trades Unions are doomed. That is why the young workers are left with such a dismal choice.
    The industry has free reign to abuse its most precious resourse and they are.
    Bringing tradesmen from South America ? India? surely you jest. The modern industry requires a high degree of literacy skills as well as computer skills. It is extremely competative with tight margins. That is why the home builders want the public to pay for training rather than doing it themselves which is what the ' old ' apprenticeship program did. A specialty worker is unable adapt to the changing needs of construction which is as predictable as the business cycle which drives it.

  • allan

    7 years ago

    Great discussion on a good article.

    I find it ludicrous that house-building contractors want only partly trained workers and they expect the public to carry the costs of a government service catering to their needs rather than the students who ought to be the first priority.

    If staff in this new Industry Training Authority are going along with this by letting workers only train on one aspect of a trade, they ought to be run out of town.

    There are already too many incompetents working in the housing sector after learning where the business end of a hammer is located.

    Cheap, cheap, cheap. That's the real desire of the contractors.

    Unfortunately, following the fiascos in the Lower Mainland with leaky condos over the past two decades, most home buyers now want quality, quality quality.

    Meanwhile the partly-trained apprentices will be effectively indentured for life to the house building industry with it's notoriously low wages and little job security.

    So whose interests is this government's new program really serving?

  • chuckstraight

    7 years ago

    And like the article says, all you`ve got to show for it is a bad back and no pension. The NEW ERA.

  • crh

    7 years ago

    Charge out rate on journeymen is high because most of the rate is taken by the contractor. A plumber going into your home may be charged out $55.00-$60.00hr but may receive only $20-$25 an hour. When a welder or fitter is out there working, they usually don't get full time hours. This works great for the contractor. To hire and lay off easily. (Not complaining about this, just telling it like it is) Though it affects the bottom line at the end of the year for the worker. If a man is willing to leave his home and family behind, and go and work in 40cbelow, than they can find lots of work in the north. Though they make more money, it also involves sacrafice. Also being in a physical job all the time does take its' toll on your body, something blue collar workers just can't relate to.

    I also agree that the unions are a part of the problem. They have been reduced to a hiring hall only. I feel nowadays they actually are keeping wages down. If the free market had it's way, they would be much higher in many parts of Canada, as demand is high and good qualified journeymen are in short supply.

  • crh

    7 years ago

    Sorry, should have proof read my above post. I meant "something white collar workers can't relate to"

  • dolphin

    7 years ago

    I was a high school counsellor for 14 years, and regularly recommended trades training. Frankly, the students frequently thought they were all going to be pharmacists and probation officers despite my advice. Prior to that job, I was an employment counsellor, sending people off to what was then 5 months of trades training preliminary to an apprenticeship. Many couldn't find an apprenticeship after they were done, which was a waste of time and resources. Instead, we had 35 and 40 year old apprentices who finally had enough seniority in the unionized operations to get off the greenchain. Apparently, in Germany, if you are accepted in an apprenticeship training, you will end up a certified tradesman by the age of 20. Our laissez faire system is to blame.

  • Tbarnston

    7 years ago

    There is a simple answer to this problem: contractors need to raise their wage rates for apprentices and journeyman.

    I am a 1st year electrical apprentice. If there really is a shortage of labour, why the hell aren't wages higher? I make $12.65/hr, but the first year rate can go as low as $10 hr, even in the electrical union (IBEW). I used to make more as a landscape labourer three years ago, when I was getting at least $15/hr. I have even seen want ads for journeyman electricians offering as low $18. Remember, a journeyman electrician has at least 6000hrs on the job and has completed 1200 hrs in class training. They are skilled workers.

    I could not imagine trying to crack this industry at anything less than what I make now. When you factor in the necessary investment in tools apprentices must make ($300-500), then why are we making such crappy money?

    I feel it is the current business culture of our province, which is personified by Gordon Campbell. BC businesses seem to have a real cavalier "go f*ck yourself" attitude right now, and they are simply following short term profit maximization strategies that are doing nothing to foster a sustainable economy. We are seeing no, I repeat, no investment in the future of this province, and the current trend in the trades sector is a prime example.

  • Tbarnston

    7 years ago

    Another thing I should add is that apprenticeship training tuition and books is now at about $1000 per level. Add in the fact that apprenctices lose 10 weeks of wages every time they go to school and one can see why we are facing some labour shortages. I work with guys who have been apprentices for 3 years or more, but given their low wages, they simply can not save the required money to take 10 weeks off and pay for tuition. They do not even have the option of accessing student loans because apprentice training is not covered by the student loan program.

    In the construction field, it is in the contractors interest to prevent people from advancing. Apprentices learn how to proficiently complete the nuts and bolts aspect of the trade on the job, and they become stuck because they are prevented via economics from advancing in their field. This is a great way for contractors to get around having to pay journeyman rate.

    The fact is that the trades businesses simply do not want to pay more for labour, and thus they will face labour shortages. It disgusts me to read reports of them demanding incentives to hire apprentices. It is in their interest to cultivate a skilled workforce, and they should pony up if they want their industry to prosper.

  • Anne

    7 years ago

    Please don't forget that the Campbell government has also decertified the trades. They whine about a skill shortage, but they are really de-skilling the trades.

    It is true that some contractors prefer to hire the less skilled. My partner is a journeyman industrial electrician now on call with the I.B.E.W. For decades he has found it hard to find employment. We can only speculate on why. He is an excellent electrician, a polite and mellow guy, a life-time non-drinker who put himself through school and training without the
    help of student loans, only to find himself on welfare during the 80's recession and for some time after. Part of the problem, I think, is that he IS a lifetime non-drinker and has a gentle manner. Not macho enough to "fit in". Yet, electricians who are his equals in skill level recognize and appreciate his abilities. Most employers don't because they don't know what they're looking at. He has that Red Seal license and when he went to apply at the local mill the personnel officer scornfully informed him that she wasn't interested in these "pieces of paper", that he had to have his T.Q. to work there. As some of you know, the T.Q. is a lower qualification than the Red Seal.

    Right now he is working on call, only part of the year (just as well as he's pushing 60 with a bad back) on the ferry renos. He has to go out of town and stay in a cheap room, which, though the cheapest Vancouver has to offer, still takes half of his $25/hour, and there is no provision for a tax break for this kind of thing. Other out-of-town skilled workers are sleeping in their vehicles in the parking lot. The electricians, highly skilled all, are driving shabby second hand vehicles. So, do we really have a skills shortage, or just a shortage of skilled workers available at a low enough wage to satisfy business?

  • Anne

    7 years ago

    Another aspect of the fragmentation of trades skills is that it disempowers the workers by making sure that very few individuals are fully skilled and hard to replace. Someone who knows only a few specialized skills can be quickly replaced by a new trainee if he or she decides to rebel by withholding those skills.

  • Bailey

    7 years ago

    They seem to be positively seeking the quickest route to general poverty among the people of BC. These Liberals don't seem to feel that they have any duty to improve the conditions among any but the few thousand wealthy owners who seem to be the beneficiaries of all these cuts and small attacks on our families.

    I think the Labour movement is in some sort of malaise. They're all so focused on their own little patch that they've stopped pursuing the greater principles that gave the world it's first taste of economic fairness. Fair value for the labour that creates all wealth.

    I hope that they can soon pull themselves together. Stop playing these silly acquisitive games and trying to play like they were some kind of managers themselves.

    Start spreading the word among the poor in the third world, and bringing fairness back into workplaces and families all over like they used to.

  • Bailey

    7 years ago

    There's another thing. There are contractors who are proud. Proud of their work, the things they build, proud of their abilities and expertise, and the quality of their work and reputations.

    But not all. Some just love money. Cut corners, cut quality, enjoy the petty power they have over their workers lives. Small men, mostly, who laugh together at their foolish scams, and change the name of the company whenever their reputation catches up with them. They think they're clever, and the people who pay them for what they do are stupid.

    Did you ever wonder how so many condominiums could be built so poorly over years that they all failed so disastrously that 'leaky condos' became practically a brand name for BC construction? Could anyone with pride, principles or respect for workmanship have done that?

    It's a systematic malaise on the owners side, too.

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