Ontario Budget and Skilled Trades

• New "Working for Workers Act, 2023"
• Grade 11 apprenticeships counting for a year of high school
• (2) Women's washrooms on site.
• Immigration and International Student pathways to skilled trades and other government selected employment classifications.
  • Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program outlines application and selection based on job classification criteria for fast pathway to immigration status.

• 2008/2010, 44% discontinued the program within 6 years
  • of the 44%, over 60% exited trades entirely
  • about 17.4% (men) and 29.6% (women) going to PSE. 20% of younger apprentices who "discontinued" went to PSE. (StatCan)
  • Will this pathway will be lost for those not graduating high school?
• Higher job loss in lower skilled work during the pandemic.
• Jobs filled by those with lower levels of education were more at risk at being automated or losing their jobs during economic downturns.
  • Lower educational attainment by both partners increases precarity of employment unequally across society.

  • Lower educational attainment correlates with lower incomes.

    highly educated couples are far more likely to have both spouses hold a triple-protected job than their less educated counterparts. Of all dual-earner couples where both spouses have at least a bachelor’s degree, 55.7% have triple-protected jobs for both spouses. This percentage is seven times higher than the percentage for couples in which both spouses have a high school diploma or less (8.2%) (StatCan)

• Canada construction industry: 1.3 million workers as labourers and in skilled trades.
  • 1.2 million (+9.2%) in 2016.
• 182,000 women working in the construction industry in 2021
  • 25.0% (46,000) were in occupations related to trades, transport and equipment operators and related occupations,
  • 53.9% (~90k) were working in business, finance and administration occupations—mostly as administrative officers, administrative assistants, accounting clerks and general office support workers.
  • 86.3% men. No change in the number of women in the sector since 2016.

There is no indication of a shortage or coming crisis of a shortage of skilled trades.

Apprenticeships are up across Canada.

Ontario had an increase of:

• 4,317 apprenticeships in 2021 (up 32.7%)

Short term employment and job openings are tight, but there has been a tapering off and collapse of the growth in the job vacancy rate. Since 2019, construction and trades job vacancies have increased less quickly than other job groups such as the private service sector and the front-line broader public sector.

Job vacancies in the manufacturing sector have declined with the slowing investment in new manufacturing investments and a leveling-off of capacity utilization growth.

The proportion of long-term job vacancies has also leveled-off indicating the labour market tightness has slowed. Long-term vacancies are similar between the service sectors, front-line health job classifications, manufacturing, agricultural sector, and construction.

However, wage offers increased in a significant way in only 1/4 occupation groups. The lack of increase indicates that employers do not seem to think that these vacancy rates will continue.

Canada's vacancy and job placement rates are back inline with 2011-2019 historical means. (Bank of Canada)

More than half (51.8% or 601,000) of the 1.1 million non-management occupations in construction were in occupations that required at least two years of apprenticeship or at least two years of college education. A further 22.3% were in positions that required some college education or specialized training or apprenticeship training of less than two years, while over one-fifth (22.1%) were in occupations that required either a high school diploma or no formal educational requirements. (StatCan)

Job vacancies decreased in the third quarter in Quebec (-6.7% to 232,400), British Columbia (-4.7% to 155,400) and Ontario (-3.6% to 364,000). At the same time, the number of vacancies was up in Manitoba (+10.7% to 32,400) and Saskatchewan (+7.5% to 24,300), while it was relatively stable in the other provinces.

The job vacancy rate was 6.7% in the third quarter, up from 6.1% in the same quarter of 2021 as job vacancies growth (+17.4%) continued to outpace payroll employment growth (+6.4%).

Vacancies for electricians (+51.5%; +1,800), carpenters (+19.6%; +2,100) and construction trades helpers and labourers (+12.9%; +2,900) rose from the third quarter of 2021 (not seasonally adjusted).

(StatCan)