First of all, I'm sorry I wasn't clear enough. I'm not making a statement about the five jobs for every vacancy. It's a fact. We have a 7% unemployment rate, a 10% real unemployment rate, and about a 17% youth unemployment rate. Those are the numbers in Canada. I agree with you that we've got shortages out there, but the people who are unemployed don't have the skills to fill those shortages. That is the problem.
I'm not arguing for more counsellors in the school. I'm just saying, as you are, that I wish some of the counsellors would give kids good advice to take some of these trades. As you might know, a tradesman in the oil sands now can make in excess of $100,000 with just a little bit of overtime work. They're good jobs, they're secure jobs, and they give you enough credentials to move. I think we have to do more credentializing.
The role that the federal government is starting to play is getting better. Labour market information will be very valuable in those decisions and those discussions.
My challenge is the same as yours, sir: I don't know how we get kids coming out of school to get the proper advice on career choices. Unfortunately, very few are counselled to take trades, and more should be.
We need to actually promote the credentializing of a lot more skills. We have only 38 apprenticeable occupations in Canada. In Great Britain, they have in excess of 100. Those credentials and cards give employers confidence to hire people who have the basic skills they need. You're always going to have to train to the actual skill sets of the operation that you're in, whether it be mining or trades, but we don't credentialize enough training.