National Trends

Labour Shortages in the Skilled Trades

Canada's economy is affected by 3 major population factors (on average):

• Some statistics:
• The population aging
• The average life span is increasing
• The birth rate is decreasing
• Over 12% of the population is over 65 years of age (2001)

 

• In 1991, over 10% of Canadian workers were 55 years or older. For each worker over 55, there were almost 4 workers between 20 and 34 years of age.

 

• In 2001, 12% of Canadian workers were 55 years or older. For each worker over 55, there were only 2.7 workers between 20 and 34 years of age.

 

The aging population of workers implies that at some time in the near future, these workers will retire and leave a large number of vacancies.

26% of small / medium sized businesses reported unfilled job openings (2002) - 64% of these businesses say the positions are vacant because of a lack of skilled workers

There are a reported 265,000 vacant positions across Canada

Slide show: This slideshow displays many different images of youth with disabilities working in a wide variety of skilled trades. Some of these trades include Culinary arts window washing blacksmith farming and bicycle repair.