Hello. I'm the business manager of HVAC&R Workers of Ontario U.A. Local 787, and also the joint training and apprenticeship committee trustee.
The HVAC&R Workers of Ontario represents 5,300 heating, ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration mechanics and building maintenance professionals. Our geographical jurisdiction is the province of Ontario, covering all HVACR sectors: manufacturing, residential, commercial, industrial and institutional. Most of our membership hold Cs of Q in 313A, refrigeration and air conditioning systems mechanics, and 313D, residential systems mechanics, along with gas licences. We currently have 340 signatory contractors with U.A. Local 787, and they're represented by the Ontario Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Contractors Association, or ORAC. Through a joint effort, the union and contractor association operate a training facility that is dedicated to preparing, training and upgrading our membership. Currently, we sign up between 300 to 350 new apprentices yearly.
I'm honoured to be here today to talk about youth unemployment. My experience with youth unemployment is normally with those who are seeking to start a career in the HVACR industry and may have taken a form of post-secondary education or had exposure to the trade through an Ontario youth apprenticeship program. Weekly, on average, the union will receive 80 requests to join, and approximately 50% of those people trying to join the union are new entries to the workforce. We do not track the age of the applicants but, judging from the lack of experience, they are 25 years or younger. There are more applications received to join the union than the union and employers can offer apprenticeships or jobs to.
This has changed over the years, as various governments have spent a lot of time and money on opening people's eyes to the value of the trades. In the past, trades were a second-choice career; today, the trades are becoming a first-choice career. We should be proud that we are changing how the trades are viewed, but there is also a sign of trouble. As we turn people away because we don't have the jobs, they are getting increasingly frustrated and giving up.
The question around why our youth are experiencing a high unemployment rate is not an easy question, and I can't cover it in five minutes, but as you dig, you will find that there are multiple factors that are contributing to higher youth unemployment.
One reason, which has been around forever, is that employers prefer to hire people with experience. This saves money on training, and, in most cases, a new employee with experience generates revenue right away. This is creating a unique situation in the HVAC industry: People with experience are making lots of money, and it's getting hard for people to enter the industry.
Another reason is that, for the last number of years, we have heard all the calls for more workers within the skilled trades, for fear of not having enough people to meet the future. As I stated earlier, increased interest in the skilled trades is due to the recent push, from various governments, that encouraged people to consider the trades instead of colleges or universities. Along with this increase, we are also seeing series 900 SINs—or, in other words, temporary residents. This is something that I had never experienced until about five years ago. This creates further competition for very limited jobs. Beyond competition for jobs, the temporary residents are very motivated, as the life that they are offered in Canada, in most cases, is better than what they had in their homeland. They will do anything, and, in many cases, they prefer to work for cash.
To understand how this affects the industry, we need to understand what the industry is. The industry is broken down into industrial, institutional, commercial and residential. Industrial, institutional and larger commercial, due to liabilities, tend to have licensed, insured contractors with certified workers. Residential, on the other hand, tend to chase the lower-cost and, in many cases, will use what is known as “the underground economy”. The residential HVAC industry, when it comes to people it employs or could employ legally, is five times larger than the industrial, commercial and institutional sectors combined, and in many cases is the entry experience for those in the industrial, commercial and institutional sectors. When people are turned away, whether they apply to the union or to a non-union contractor, they will do what they know best, which is to go into business themselves, and the first step is the underground economy, taking away entry-level jobs. This becomes a vicious circle.
Thank you.