Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the opportunity to be here. Thank you to the committee for the invitation to speak about this important issue.
I will begin by giving you a bit of background on our organization. Skills/Compétences Canada is a national organization that started operations in 1998. We currently have offices in all 10 provinces and three territories. We are managed under a federated model, so those provincial and territorial offices are separate entities and are members of the national organization. We're governed by a voluntary board of directors, composed of representatives from each province and territory. We are also Canada's member organization in WorldSkills International.
Our mission is to encourage and support a coordinated Canadian approach to promote skilled trades and technologies to youth. We do that by working with various partners at different levels, government, business, labour, and education, to really bring together the insights and the valuable ideas from those groups to develop programs that are effective in promoting trades and technology careers.
We really try to engage youth through sensory, interactive experiences that profile trades and technologies. That is the cornerstone of our activities. We always want there to be something very interactive and very hands-on as part of those activities. Some of them include skills clubs and skills camps, where we are bringing in people who are working in those occupations not only to talk about those careers but also to provide some hands-on activities for young people to participate in: cardboard boat races, young women's conferences, and Skills Canada competitions at a provincial and territorial, national, and international level. Again, it's a very hands-on, practical, sensory experience. We have Try-A-Trade and technology activities, which I will touch on a little more.
Industry sectors that we represent include construction, information communication technology, manufacturing, service, and transportation. Looking at our competition format, which is probably a unique activity in the country, we have approximately 150,000 youth who participate in our competition process on an annual basis beginning at a school level. We have school board competitions, regional competitions, moving into provincial and territorial competitions, and culminating each year with approximately 500 youth from across the country participating in approximately 40 different trade and technology areas, ranging from what would be considered traditional trades, such as, plumbers, electricians, and welders, and moving into information technology, IT network support, web design, hospitality, cooking, baking, restaurant service, manufacturing, and CNC machining. There's a broad range of categories that provide a great offering for those students who are participating.
At the national level, we have between 10,000 and 15,000 visitors at the competition each year. That is extremely important because the competitions are not only there to develop interest for those youth who are participating, but also for those visiting schools that attend. We have developed what we call the Try-A-Trade and technology activities, which give visiting students an opportunity to try an occupation at a very base level. Again, we give them that sensory experience so they can try to build a brick wall, wire a circuit board, or colour someone's hair. It gives them a better appreciation of what it would be like at a very base level to look at that occupation for the future.
I'll go through some interesting things from the 2007 National Apprenticeship Survey. Some have already been mentioned, but the average age of entrance into the apprenticeship system was approximately 25. There is definitely a gap between people leaving high school before they enter into apprenticeship. The median age of discontinuers was three years older than that of completers. We could surmise that if we get students interested at a younger age, there may be a higher probability they would complete their apprenticeship.
Contact with people exposed to the trade was the most common factor that influenced apprentices' interest in their trade. Half of each apprenticeship group reported that family members, friends in the trade, teachers, counsellors, employers, co-workers, union representatives, or any other tradespeople influenced their interest in a trade.
Obviously, it's extremely important that students be made aware of the opportunities in skilled trades and have a chance to talk to tradespeople and find out what they do on a day-to-day basis.
The three most commonly cited factors influencing registration in trades were interest in and enjoyment of the trade, good salary expectations, and job stability or security. Again, I think it's important that we really try to show young people that there are pathways for them and if they have legitimate interest and are excited about a specific occupation and trade, that we encourage that and not discourage that.
Also, Sarah had mentioned the marketing promotions campaign that CAF and Skills Canada had offered in the mid-2000s. I offer some interesting statistics from that. They're a little dated. In an Ipsos Reid study from 2004-05, 69% of parents with children ages 13 to 24 say they would be likely to recommend careers in skilled trades to their children, yet only 28% of youth say their parents have encouraged them to pursue this option. Obviously, there is some disconnect there either in the questions or in how that information from parents is being communicated to youth.
Also from that study, only 14% of youth indicated that their guidance counsellors had recommended this career option. Again, if we are trying to make sure that young people are aware of all the options and we believe that if they start at an earlier age they may be more likely to pursue the career and complete the career, then we should be trying to make sure that information is provided through the school system.
Looking at the challenge that we face, and this is some information from the Construction Sector Council, commercial and institutional construction will record strong gains spread evenly across the 2012 to 2020 scenario. Mining, oil and gas, electricity, and transportation projects are creating high-profile labour demands. These demands will add an estimated 100,000 jobs, but this is far less than the replacement demands tied to retirements, which is approximately 219,000. Obviously, there is a great challenge in front of us.
Also from a 2012 ManpowerGroup talent shortage report, globally one in three employers, 34%, continue to experience difficulties filling vacancies due to lack of available talent. In Canada this number was slightly lower, at about 25%. At a global level, vacancies for skilled trades workers topped the list of the most difficult positions to fill again in 2012. Again, this is part of the challenge.
We have an aging demographic in Canada that is resulting in many job vacancies. We have a country that is rich in natural resources that are in demand globally. Skilled trades and technology workers are required in order for these industries to perform.
I'll quickly list recommendations:
More interactive sensory experience programming should be offered in grades seven, eight, and nine as an introduction to skilled trades careers, maintaining an emphasis on students at the high school level.
We should demonstrate to youth how technology is changing the type of work in traditional trades, making it much more focused on digital skills. Technology is making a significant impact, and there are many examples of how that's changing how tradespeople work.
We should develop mobile training facilities that can be used in remote locations to provide an introduction to these careers so that we can bring more base-level learning of those occupations to those remote communities as opposed to asking them to come to where the training is.
We should develop career pathways that link multiple levels of education to training to make it easier for students so they do not have to make one choice at a high school age and then have no opportunity to move in another direction if they decide that first choice is not the right choice for them.
Through outreach to employers, we should demonstrate to them the business case of why employing apprentices is beneficial. I think CAF has developed some great materials in their return on training investment studies to do that. We need to continue to emphasize that with employers.
We need to continue to emphasize worker mobility through Red Seal certification and through the recognition in multiple jurisdictions of apprenticeship training. This means making sure that apprenticeship training that is achieved in one jurisdiction is also recognized if someone moves to another jurisdiction.
We should implement a youth-focused advertising campaign focused on events and activities throughout the country that connect youth to people employed in these occupations, and provide them with a chance to try these occupations at an introductory level.
Also, we should analyze the policy implications of apprenticeship on the job and in-school training taking place concurrently. This might have already been done, but I'm not aware of it.
That concludes my comments.