So, if you believe some people we are now on our way out of the recession. The skilled trades job market seems to hum along as well as it ever has. A few recent news stories paint a picture of the present and future of skilled trades jobs.

The Guardian complains about government policy in the UK

A story in the Guardian – albeit, this is the Guardian – claims to uncover an issue that has been hampering policy there for several years: the persistent miscalculation of how employment will change by the year 2020 and what impact societal and other changes should be anticipated and how they should affect present politics. The article, in part, cites Ed Balls, the schools secretary, who says in part, that the future of Britain’s job market holds an “increasing demand for higher skills, with very few jobs available for people with low or no skills”.

The article offers a portrati of some young job seekers who have acquired skills but no strong job prospects. And on the other hand, “sceptics of the government’s policy [say the] predictions are groundless. There is no evidence, they say, that the number of mainly low-paid jobs that recruit young people with few or no skills or qualifications is going to shrink.”

Canada: more training, more demand and even some appreciation

In Canada, trade schools like the one offered at Sir Sanford Fleming College are successfully running students through the program and growing steadily. And a survey of Ottawa Valley businesses found that there is a growing shortage of skilled trades workers. Meanwhile, visiting St. John’s Newfoundland, Prime Minister Stephen Harper praised local construction and promised  that the Government will continue investment in Newfoundland’s employment and training programs.  Among other things, he told the crowd: “If construction professionals adopt new technologies and stay current with their expertise, they should have long, busy and successful careers,” the Prime Minister said.

Your neighbourhood

Leave a note to tell me and others how things are in your neck of the woods. Are there lots of skilled trades jobs? Do they pay well? Is there still a recession affecting you? Drop a comment and unless it’s spam I’ll allow it, to see if we can engage some discussion on the latest about skilled trades jobs.

And where have I been?

I would be remiss if I did not note that I have not blogged in an incredibly long time. The simple fact is that this is one of numerous gigs I have and I have numerous other commitments that (frankly) pay better and more immediately. You can bet that I will still be checking in now and then and blogging when there is proper blogging to do.

Women in Trades and Technology hosted its first New Brunswick networking group event in St. John, yesterday, at the New Brunswick Museum. A number of women in the trades or technology-related jobs attended.

Two ‘women in the skilled trades’ events highlighted the week.

In St. Catherines Ontario (Canada), Marissa McTasney was one of the featured speakers at the Niagara Region’s first skilled trades inspiration session. She had worked in construction until two years ago, when she started her own clothing line, a line of women’s workwear.

“(Women in trades) are setting their hours, their rates. They get to dictate what they’re paid,” she told the small crowd.

“Knowing that you can make a decent income is an attraction. Besides that, it stems from a need, like a single female homeowner who suddenly has a plumbing leak and they want to repair it,” YWCA job developer Graves chimed in.

“There are just so many opportunites,” says McTasney. Her line of womens’ workwear can be found at major retailers including Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Zellers.

Meanwhile in Portland, Oregon, ths year’s Women in Trades Career Fair offered young women hands-on experience and straight-out encouragement. Women as young as 14 took a look at opportunities for women in the skilled trades. “I felt like this was a real opportunity to do something different,” said Mindy Luis. “I’m definitely going to look into trade school as an option, when I graduate from high school.”

“I talked to a firefighter who found out about the trades when she came here 17 years ago,” said Connie Ashbrook, executive director of Oregon Tradeswomen. “She came to one of the first fairs and then became a carpenter.”

The province of New Brunswick is stepping up efforts to get women involved in the skilled trades as it adds new development projects and suffers – as do so many areas – from a lack of skilled tradespeople. In 2006, the province invested $4 1/2 million in a project that introduced women on social services to skilled trade work in New Brunswick.  But now it needs even more help as it plans major projects such as a proposed energy corridor with the state of Maine, announced last week, that would see renewable electricity and natural gas exported from Atlantic Canada to the New England states.

Rosella Melanson, Executive Director of the New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women  says, “There have been very few efforts to get women into non-traditional jobs in the province.”

Other projects in the province include the possible construction of a 500 to 600- megawatt power plant, a 1,200 to 1,500-megawatt transmission line and the addition of an unspecified amount of wind power. All the growth provides an opportunity for both women and smart employers. Says Melanson, “Smart employers will think of women because they are an untapped pool.”

Pat Darrah is the Executive Director of the Saint John Construction Association. He says that the opportunity is always there for women: “We have a number of ladies working out at Point Lepreau and we got a number of ladies working on the maintenance side of the industry and on the industrial side.’ The govenment’s employment initiative has helped, as there are more now and in 2006 there were no women.

Irving Oil is holding a “Women in Trades” networking dinner in May that is part of that company’s intitiative to attract more women.

Elsewhere, women in the workforce are finding that they are getting more respect – slowly – over time. At a celebration of the 30th anniversary of its local chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction, a New York contractor noted how in the early days, many clients treated her “like a secretary.” For women, it may be harder to get respect but they have made great strides, say chapter members, by putting knowledge first.

Kate Beach, an office manager at a fabricating plant called Atlantis Equipment Corp., says, “You just have to know your stuff. You gain that respect the first time you have
someone saying ‘She knows that?’”

While repect for women in construction has ridden the same wave as respect for women in society in general, there are still issues with compensation in New York’s construction trades. “There is not equal compensation,” said Lisa Harding of Lash Contracting in Latham. “In terms of pay, there is a long way to go.”

That same issue haunts New Brunswick’s construction industry: “What is often forgotten is preparing the workplace so that those women are tolerated and welcomed,” Melanson says. “We have seen so many women train for something and then not continue in that line of work because they’ve been harassed from day one or made to be pioneers, and they just move on. It’s a waste of dollars, a waste of talent and we end up with skill shortages.”

But no matter what kind of work anyone faces, there are going to be challenges and problems and ups and downs. Melanson adds, “if you’re a woman looking for a better paying job, going for something non-traditional is probably the way to go.”

It’s popular to speak of “these dire times” (or whatever) and fall in line with all the news of economic worries. There are many positive stories, in the skilled trades no less which have proven just as vulnerable as professional employment with financial insitutions. Maybe you just have to read between the lines.

We heard of a program in Canada instituted by Beverley Oda, Minister of International Cooperation. The government of Canada launched a new Skills for Employment initiative that will help developing countries build a skilled workforce necessary for economic growth. The initiative will strengthen local training institutions in partnership with Canadian community colleges and enable students to acquire the quality vocational and technical skills needed for productive employment.<Read more>

Hundreds show up to News 10NBC career fair  says the report from MSNBC . But one staffing agency scouting out potential candidates for new hires was disappointed. They “had a need for skilled trades people but they weren’t seeing them at this career fair.”<See the original article>

There’s an employment problem across Canada’s north. I said “employment problem”: not enough people to employ in skilled trades across a spectrum of high paying industries including mining, forestry and the oil industry. <Read this editorial from Timmins>.

The average wage for oil patch workers is over $75,000 per year (source: www.1-oil-job.com/). The median wage in forestry is $46, 316and for a mining engineer, it’s $87,000 (source: salary.com). Search tradeschoolworld.com for more skilled trades wage information.

In spite of the supposedly weakened economy, a number of skilled trades in Canada are doing just fine, thanks.

More here

An article in the Calgary Herald discusses the upcoming WorldSkills Competition and the contribution of its chairman, Guy Mallabone. Mallabone says, “There are a lot of young people out there who like to work with their hands or in the arts.” The event, with a budget of $55 million (Canadian) is hosted in part by SAIT Polytechnic, of which Mallabone is vice-president of external relations.

Mallabone is passionate about the skilled trades and about the need to change some societal perceptions so that young people in the skilled trades do not “feel like they’re second class.”

Mallabone tells a personal story: “In my daughter’s Grade 9 class, the school pulled together the parents and the principal spoke to us. She spoke about considering a career after high school and to carefully choose your courses. And she said, ‘As you prepare for your university journey’ and I stood up and said, ‘Do you mean post-secondary journey?’ and she was embarrassed and said, ‘of course,’ but the word being used was university. Our society can’t sustain that elitist outlook.”

You can read more about Mallabone and WorldSkills Calgary.

The Ontario ombudsman reports that apprenticeship programs in that province have a low completion rate.

read more.

Is it a better guarantee of success if people go to trade school?

Well, we at the trade up have to link when Mike Holmes gives our local trade school /community college a passing grade. Read more.

November 3rd to 7th is a week set aside to honour skilled trades, with special events in cities and towns across Canada.

The launch will be held November 3rd in Ottawa at Les Jardins de la Cité, Pavillon H, La Cité Collégiale, in Ottawa. Students from the Ottawa area are invited to join Annie Beauregard, a Team Canada 2007 World Skills bronze medalist, Stacy DuBois of Team Canada 2009, along with representatives from the Canadian Hospitality and Service Industry.

Events from across the country will include “Skills at the Park” in Queens Park, Toronto, which will honour seven Ontario entrants in World Skills 2009.

November 3-7, events will be held at colleges and trade schools across Ontario. These will include two events in Burlington, Ontario, where The Centre for Skills Development & Training is holding two open house events. There is an open invitation to all interested parties (especially trade school students, other youth and their parents) to drop by the centre November 6th from 5:30 to 7:30 pm to find out more about the skilled trades. On Friday November 7, from 12:30-2:30 p. m., teams will battle in a friendly trades competition.

November 3rd, in Edmonton, Alberta, a Cardboard Road race will be held at NAIT. On November 4th, members of the Alberta World Skills team will be introduced in the Alberta Legislature.

November 6th in Newfoundland, a skilled trades luncheon will be held at the College of the North Atlantic’s “College Day”.

November 3rd in PEI, at the UPEI Field House, there will be a hands-on event called Career Options PEI.

November 3rd in Manitoba, there will be a Model Wind Turbine Competition at Red River College in Winnipeg.

These are just a few of the events and times. Check your local news for more events or see skillscanada.com.