Construction contractors needed in. B.C.

February 24, 2022



Construction workers in the rest of Canada should take notice: British Columbia will need to hire a lot of tradespeople starting in 2022.
A flood of new workers expected during COVID-19 never materialized, but the demand for tradespeople soared. Adding to demand were floods that required a massive hiring blitz, work on the Broadway subway extension in Vancouver, and the ongoing Site-C dam and liquefied natural gas infrastructure construction in northern B.C.
As a result, an estimated 64,900 workers will be needed in B.C. over the next 10 years—up from the 17,000 projected in 2019, according to BuildForce Canada.
Chris Atchison, president of the BC Construction Association, said there has been tremendous pressure on the industry to maintain the status quo on work that was underway at the beginning of the pandemic.
An outdated training system is also partly to blame for the trade shortage. Traditionally, high school students who decided to enter a trade chose their courses in grades 11 and 12 based on that decision. Today, the average apprentice is 28 years old. Contrary to traditional model, many choose to switch careers and join a trade in their late 20s.
BC Building Trades introduced a number of initiatives to attract more people to the industry. One initiative includes an upskilling program that identifies competencies a tradesperson would need and provides guides to help them through potential education barriers such as high school level math competency.
B.C. used to be the only province that didn’t have compulsory trades certification, but is in the process of mandating certification in 10 trades. Certification means a worker needs to be an apprentice or a journeyman to perform a specific job.