I could start by saying that our problem is twofold. First, there are no longer as many students wanting to enrol in the faculties that lead to jobs in technology. The problem starts well before that: it can be seen as early as secondary school. We are therefore trying to see how the parents of children who are finishing elementary school, and the children themselves, could be made more aware of the possibilities. There is a lack of information about the fact that the jobs of the future are in technology, and that they are very diverse, very interesting and completely different from what they were. In a nutshell, the number of students going into careers that lead to jobs in technology is too low.
As well, a lot of training is provided within companies. However, I am now hearing that in some cases, companies are having trouble hiring young people, no matter how qualified they are. In the present circumstances, basic jobs in some companies are being transferred to developing countries. They are looking for people with experience, because they are on the leading edge.
In our system, there is support for apprenticeship. In some cases, the provinces provides support through co-op programs, in particular, but at the federal level, apprenticeship systems mainly target old economy jobs, not new economy jobs. Something has to be done so that our qualified graduates can get into the job cycle, and so that five or 10 years from now they are there to take over as employees leave.
Even in the case of government contracts there is a problem. Often, to get a federal government contract, you have to list the qualifications of the employees who will be working on the project. There is no room for employees who do not have a lot of qualifications. Some members of my association who are in Ottawa tell me that they need a new generation in their companies, that they interview young people when they bid on federal government contracts, but they can't have them work on those contracts. That kind of thing happens when we are focused on the knowledge economy and trying to solve the problems that arise. They are not all huge problems. Of course, young people's career choices are a much harder problem to address.
I would like to know whether there are targeted programs that could solve the problems like the ones I am talking about.