Demand for skilled labour continues to be a pressing issue across the construction industry. While solutions have been identified, barriers remain.

The industry is grappling with an aging workforce, a negative image, lack of diversity and immigration hurdles. A lot of progress has been made to tackle the labour shortage over the years, but there’s still a long way to go.

Many of these issues and what needs to be done were discussed by a panel of industry experts during a webinar on the skilled labour deficit.

The general consensus was that the industry is not doing a good enough job of selling the potential for rewarding careers in construction.

“There’s an onus on us to sell the business. Somewhere along the way, the industry forgot to sell this as a viable career path to people in primary and secondary schools,” said Myke Badry, vice president and district manager at PCL Construction. “There is a general lack of awareness of what is a construction career.”

VRCA president Jeannine Martin suggested the industry needs a rebrand. “We need to bring sexy back to construction. We need to bring attention back on the industry as a viable career. There are so many different paths – from the office to the field.”

Increasing education and funding programs in schools to raise awareness and expose young people to construction is key, according to Bill Ferreira, executive director, Buildforce Canada. “Most young people have no idea how to join this industry. We need to do better about educating them about the pathway.”

Both the industry and all levels of government need to collaborate and provide more support for young people to join the construction sector. Unless someone knows other people already in construction, there is a lack of awareness and interest.

Addressing the skills shortage needs a more holistic approach where everyone is on the same page, according to Barry Murphy, director of business development at EllisDon.

“If we’re all doing our own things…we’re not going to win. We’re not going to get where we need to be,” he said, noting, “We have to recognize the demographic we’re targeting is very different from the demographic when I entered in the 90s. We can’t approach with old methods.”

With an estimated 350,000 workers needed over the next 10 years in Canada, recruiting domestically can only do so much to fill that demand. Changes are needed to Canada’s immigration system because the process is taking too long and is not doing a good job at matching skills gaps.

“We’re not moving fast enough. We’re not cutting the red tape fast enough,” said Martin.

Current labour market information also does not take into account the additional workforce needed to deliver on key public-policy priorities such as building new home construction, infrastructure and the move towards electrification.

“We need to see the workforce increase dramatically,” said Ferreira.

He shared that the construction sector has seen a significant decline in admissions of individuals with the necessary trade skills experience since the early 2000s. Landed immigrants now make up a large percentage of the overall workforce in Canada and “construction needs to get its share of landed immigrants,” he said.

Improving strides towards achieving diversity, equity, and inclusivity is another way to shrink the skilled labour gap. While larger companies have the ability to invest in diversity efforts, it is a challenge for smaller companies which make up the bulk of the industry, said Murphy. Not all companies have the education, resources or funding to invest in it.

With women making up 50 per cent of the available workforce, more has to be done to recruit and retain that group in construction. Women account for just five per cent of the onsite construction workforce in 2023.

“As far as we’ve come, it’s not far enough,” said Martin. “Job sites are not welcoming for these groups. Behaviours have not changed enough to create a draw to make [women] want to stay in the industry. When we condone those behaviours, they continue. You have to take action when things are inconsistent with company values.”

Ferreria agreed that working conditions are less than favourable for inclusive and diverse environments in construction.

“We’re still fighting about whether we should have separate washrooms for women or not on worksites. Women are still not being provided with proper PPE. We focus on recruitment but retention is just as critical. There is still a lot of improvement that needs to happen,” he said.

Without an adequate workforce to deliver key projects, Canada also risks losing economic competitiveness and investments.

“We’re going to start losing investment to other countries. If we want to continue to remain at the forefront of investment, we need to be able to build faster,” said Ferreira. “The industry is doing its best to implement new technologies to try to accelerate construction to overcome some of the skill labour challenge but there’s only so much we can do.”

Stakeholder collaboration, more government action and a stronger education push to inspire the next generation is critical. “If not, we will be living in a country in 10 years where the infrastructure won’t be keeping up with population growth,” said Badry.

Cheryl Mah is managing editor of Construction Business.