Training for the resource trades is undergoing a sea change in B.C. due to a flood of jobs expected to open over the next decade as Baby Boomers retire and the economy heats up.

The training and apprenticeship systems are being overhauled and the province is opening new seats in existing colleges and trade schools and building new institutions in an effort to attract young people to careers in the trades.

The province estimates 420,000 trades and technical jobs will open up over the next 10 years – but the supply of trade-school graduates or skilled tradespeople is now far short of demand.

How badly the resource sector – oil and gas, forestry and mining – will be affected “depends on how much we prepare now,” says Paul Sourisseau, manager of training services for the Interior Forest Labour Relations Association.

Glenn Olsen, for Business Edge
An aging workforce concerns Ferio Pugliese, director of operational excellence at Norske Canada’s Crofton pulp mill.

The resource sector as a whole is now suffering a shortage of millwrights, electricians and heavy-duty mechanics, while supply of certain trades is barely adequate.

Traditional means of filling vacancies – including recruiting skilled immigrant labour or poaching skilled employees from other sectors – won’t be enough, despite the fact resource industry jobs offer better pay and job security in regions of the province where good jobs are scarce.

Not only will retirees outnumber new entrants to the labour market by 2010, but there is fierce competition for skilled employees in all economic sectors, skill requirements for all jobs are rising, and employers and workers are willing to chase the best opportunities, even if it means changing countries, let alone provinces.

Even so, there have been problems attracting young people to the trades, say industry insiders. Statistics show there have been steady increases in the percentage of Canadians with university and college degrees, while those qualified in trades has stagnated at 12 per cent since 1991. Only 29 per cent of job openings in B.C. between now and 2015 are expected to require a university degree, while 43 per cent will require non-university post-secondary education.

The result? After enduring waiting lists for popular programs and meeting brutal entry standards, college and university graduates face stiff competition for jobs, which drives down salaries. Yet jobs for skilled tradespeople in the resource and other sectors go begging and high demand has raised wages.

Government and industry have heeded the alarm bells and are working together to improve education for the trades.

The B.C. Ministry of Skills Development and Labour met throughout 2003 with representatives of the forestry, mining, oil and gas, small business, tourism, transportation and construction industries to identify skills shortages and how to address them.

“The traditional system just wasn’t flexible enough,” says Jeff Stevens, vice-president of operations of the Industry Training Authority (ITA), launched in January to address the problem.

The old training and apprenticeship models didn’t match up with the needs of globally competitive industries, jobs with larger technical components and the need for multi-skilled tradespeople.

Industry in B.C. wants to follow Alberta’s lead in developing training skills modules. Such courses allow trainees into the workplace faster. A basic certificate allows them to begin work with limited skills, then take additional modules offered in the workplace online through a nearby college to expand skills.

Cross-training is also possible. Tradespeople can take a core body of courses plus a few modules in complementary skills. For instance, says Sourisseau, an electrician can take a millwright module in order to meet a certain employer’s qualifications, or be promoted to a more complex job.

Some credentials may also later be used as part of apprenticeship qualifications.

Advanced Education this spring set aside $3 million for 42 pilot projects on campuses and worksites throughout the province to test new ideas for training. Results are now being analysed.

Now industry sectors, government, educational institutions, individual companies and unions are forming working groups – such as the Heavy Industries Training Authority and Oil and Gas Education and Training Consortium – to develop new, modularized certificate programs in a number of trades.