Queen’s Park is investing $28 million to support free pre-apprenticeships in Ontario in a move to help address the province’s skilled labor shortage.
The money will be divided among nearly 100 programs that are less than one year and combine in-class training with on-the-job learning, said Minister of Labor Monte McNaughton, who announced the funding in London on Wednesday.
“Our government is tackling our generational labor shortage head on, and we’re giving a hand up to everyday people who are eager to earn more for their families,” he said.
Pre-apprenticeships are programs designed to get people interested in the trades and give students some basic skills before they start a certified program.
According to the province, one in five skilled trade workers will retire within the next three years.
Down the line, that could mean a shortage of about 100,000 workers in the construction sector alone over the next 10 years, said McNaughton, Progressive Conservative MPP for Lambton-Kent-Middlesex.
“We need more young people training for rewarding careers in the skilled trades,” he said.
It was an opinion echoed by David Stubbs, executive director of the Ontario Masonry Training Centre.
“When we replace a retired mason with a new apprentice, it’s not the same level of skill, you’re not getting the same productivity right away,” he said.
“So we need to obviously be increasing (the number of workers) as they age through our system.”
Stubbs said he estimates about 25 per cent of masonry workers will need to be replaced over the next 10 years.
The strong momentum the construction industry is experiencing right now is only compounding the need for more workers, said Stubbs, who also represents the masonry contractors in the province.
“We see the boom everywhere but, in Southwestern Ontario, there is a large amount of construction right from London all the way down to Windsor,” he said.
“So there is demand pretty much in every city, right across Ontario right now for that skilled trade.”
The money announced Wednesday is an increase of $5 million over the investment made by the province last year for the same pre-apprenticeship programs.
Between April 2021 and March 2022, nearly 1,800 people enrolled in the programs that target mainly students who have graduated or are about to graduate from high school.
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