Thank you.
In our industry, we find that women are extremely under-represented. They average about 25% of our workforce, but only about 5% of those are in trades occupations. Understanding and addressing the barriers to entering and staying in the industry is going to be a key focus for us in the future, especially as it relates to women in the workplace. We're hoping to address those challenges over the coming years.
A couple of the things we've done through the Power Workers' Union, which I also represent, along with Electricity Human Resources Canada, is our TradeUp program. We actually enter schools and talk to students, specifically young women, about entering the trades. We have found that the most successful way of doing this is by getting women already in the trades to talk to these young women and to recruit them.
We still run into the same problems as other sectors. Completions are lagging. Apprentices are not qualifying. Sometimes they take up to eight to 10 years to complete their apprenticeships because of a lack of work and a lack of training.
New technology, changing market conditions, and career preferences have altered the path apprentices follow from registration to certification. There's a growing need for specialization that meets the needs of employers. Employers, we're finding, are generally trying to pigeonhole people into very specific jobs related to the trades, and apprentices are leaving prior to finishing their apprenticeships. These specializations are one reason for lower completion rates for our apprentices. They choose to end or delay the process once they have secured regular full-time work.
We also need to make a much more concentrated effort, everyone from employers to labour, educators, and government, not only to streamline the mobility issue for apprentices but to address other issues. With respect to the mobility issue for apprentices, once an apprentice is actually engaged in an apprenticeship, moving from employer to employer or province to province is very difficult. We do a fine job on the Red Seal program for the certified journeyperson, but it is not there for apprentices moving from province to province.