Alberta's Worker Shortage Boosts Apprentice Program
The Conference Board of Canada estimates a shortage of one million workers in the high paying trades and related occupations within 20 years. As a result, employers are looking towards Alberta's Apprenticeship and Industry Training System and its Women Building Futures program to solve long-term staffing solutions. Industries relying on apprentices include construction and transportation with such short-staffed trades as rig technicians, ironworkers, plumbers, and heavy equipment technicians. The industry-driven program is designed to meet the evolving requirements of each designated trade, and maintain high industry standards.
Alberta has only 10 per cent of Canada's working-age population, yet trains more than 20 per cent of the country's apprentices. "It's in the employers best interest to hire as many apprentices as possible so that they can build up the labor force and meet their ongoing labor demands," says Tracy Larson, Alberta Employment, Immigration and Industry spokeswoman. "We have been hiring record numbers of apprentices for the past several years," notes Larson. "At the end of December, there were 67,000 apprentices in the system, that's a 45 per cent increase over the past two years."