Skills Canada has estimated one million skilled trade workers will be needed by 2020.
The shortage has been well documented in labour reports in northwestern Ontario, with a heavy emphasis on the inability to attract more young people into the field.
Bob Blakely is the Canadian Operating Officer for the Building Trades Union and he says there should be more trades education in high school.
He says there are too many kids who grow up not knowing how to use a screwdriver, wrench or hammer.
Blakely says we need a change in how the trades are viewed.
He points out you need the same intellect and moxy to become a skilled trades person as you do to earn an M-B-A at university but that’s not how most people see it.
It’s estimated the home renovation industry will need 129,000 new skilled workers in the next decade.
Another report, just released, estimates 40% of the jobs to be created in Canada over the coming decade will be skilled trades.
