When it comes to the skilled trades in British Columbia, all eyes are on the future. The common chorus is that the province is going to need more than 50,000 new skilled workers over the coming decade.

There will be challenges but needing tens of thousands of new skilled workers is really a huge opportunity and a positive situation for the province. It means jobs, growth and a brighter future.

The numbers
There’s an impressive array of projects in various stages of planning, which add up to an incredible demand on labour.

BuildForce Canada, the national industry-led organization that examines the construction workforce, estimates that B.C. will need 22,500 more skilled workers between 2013 and 2021 to meet the demand driven by these projects and other factors. That’s on top of the 32,000 workers expected to retire over the next decade. BuildForce Canada estimates that just under half those jobs will be filled by first-time workers. The rest – approximately 30,000 jobs – will need to be recruited from women, Aboriginal people, other industries and other countries.

A wide range of skilled trades will be needed, including boilermakers, construction managers, electricians, millwrights, plumbers, steamfitters and pipefitters.

Government plan
B.C.’s provincial government has skills training on its radar thanks to its intense focus on promoting liquefied natural gas (LNG) and resource development across the province.

The Premier has tasked Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training Minister, Shirley Bond, with a number of key goals, including:

• Developing a comprehensive, seamless 10-year skills-training plan for students from high school through entry into the workforce;
• Reviewing the Industry Training Authority (ITA), responsible for the apprenticeship file in B.C.;
• Reforming the apprenticeship system to improve results and reduce barriers to participation; and
• Developing ways for high school students to obtain applied trades skills.

But the biggest boost skills training can get isn’t a program – it’s delivering on efforts to tap into natural gas resources, spark growth in the clean energy sector and seize economic development opportunities. Simply put, companies take on more apprentices when they know there is work for them to do.

A firm foundation
B.C. already has built a solid foundation to meet its training goals. Over the past decade, the province modernized skills training through the ITA (created in 2005), opened up access to training and broke down barriers that limited the number of certifications.

The ITA’s open system has government oversee rather than manage the training relationship between companies, workers and training bodies. And it has worked. Last year, 8,759 new journeymen graduated – more than double the number issued under the old system in 2000-01, and a 230 per cent increase since the ITA started.

Open shop companies are doing their part, taking on a large number of B.C.’s apprentices. In fact, the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association of B.C. is one of the largest registrars of apprentices and works with the ITA on a regular basis.

Risky change
Instead of building on the open system B.C. has built, some people are arguing industry needs to bring back aspects of the old system – the one that graduated half as many skilled workers.

The first idea being pushed is a demand for more counsellors – highly paid civil servants to work with apprentices and help shepherd them through the program to graduation. It sounds great but in reality it has little impact. Back when B.C. had counsellors (before the ITA), between 38 and 42 per cent of apprentices graduated. Under the ITA, completion has been between 37 and 43 per cent. In other words, virtually identical – except for the increased costs.

There is also talk about bringing in ratios (something the ITA eliminated when it was founded), requiring a set number of certified workers to be employed for every apprentice a company hires. But if the goal is ensuring B.C. trains as many skilled workers as possible, ratios would be a giant step backwards. The C.D. Howe Institute recently released a report on apprenticeship ratios and the message is clear: They reduce rather than boost the number of skilled workers.

The report found that provinces with tight restrictions have 44 per cent fewer workers in those trades than provinces that have no restrictions. In other words, these ratios ratchet up skill shortages.

It’s clear that if B.C. is going to train the 50,000-plus skilled workers it will need by 2021, something else must be done.

Next steps
It will take a multi-faceted effort to make sure B.C. has the skilled workers it needs. That effort needs to avoid the pitfalls of changing the system in ways that will create new barriers, even if unintended, to getting more people into the system and out the other end.

But the most important things that government can do is pursue policies that keep the economy strong, and make major investments in public and private infrastructure. This approach will create the biggest incentive to hiring apprentices and training young workers – the simple fact that companies will have work today and tomorrow.

Philip Hochstein is president of the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association of B.C.