Construction Workforce Strategy: Addressing Workforce Issues and Building a Skilled Workforce

1. CSC Initiatives, 2008 / 2009 ACBOA Annual General Meeting April 8, 2008 Halifax, Nova Scotia

2. Workforce Issues • Continue to hear about our unique issues from employers, labour, owners . . . • infrastructure to assess foreign worker credentials • apprenticeship completions (retention of apprentices) • levels of essential skills • engagement of the non traditional workforce • supply / demand connecting youth with apprenticeships • productivity of changing workforce • major project scheduling • qualified supervisors • public infrastructure deficit • good mentors and mentoring programs • construction training capacity • health and safety

3. Strategic Priorities • Validated Objectives, 2005 to 2010: • Engagement and Partnerships • Communications and Marketing • Labour Market Information • Recruitment and Retention • Learning Technologies • Standards and Skills Development

4. Strategic Priorities • Board highlighted the importance of stakeholder engagement • Expand marketing and communications reach • Positioning CSC as a staging ground for diverse groups to benefit and learn from each other • Getting products and services to the broadest market • Consult and work across government departments at the federal level • Consult and work with provincial / territorial governments

5. Strategic Priorities • Prioritizing our work . . . • Undertake initiatives that offer the greatest value to the industry as a whole • “Doing the Most for the Most” • Listen to specific sectors and trade groups to determine if their needs can be met by the CSC or another group • Build an evaluation mechanism into all of our work

6. Future Priority Past Activity Current Activity Cross-Sectoral Projects Trade-Specific Projects Trade-Specific Projects Cross-Sectoral Projects Follow-On Projects Follow-On Projects Cross-Sectoral Projects Trade-Specific Projects Strategic Priorities Doing the Most for the Most . . .

7. Categories of Projects • Information Building Projects • Labour Market Information • Essential Skills • Foreign Credential Recognition • Foundation Building Projects • ACBOA Certification and Accreditation • Supervisory NOA • Operating Engineers NOA • Capacity Building Projects – Supply Side Solutions • E-learning • 1 and 2 on their own are not a solution, but contribute to the supply side solutions

8. Construction Workforce Strategy

9. Construction Workforce Strategy • Increase labour supply (labour quantity); • Increase labour productivity (labour quality or skill level); • Efficiency of the labour market (supply meets demand – unemployed from other regions) • Workplace environment that maximizes skills and productivity (safety, R&D, innovation etc . . .) • Combination of these measures is the solution

10. Youth • Over the last 30 years unemployment has been consistently higher among 15 to 24 year-olds than among older workers • According to Census 2001, 30% of Canadian youth (in their 20s) have never enrolled in post secondary education • 22% have not completed a post secondary program Source: Statistics Canada

11. Immigration • Immigrants will compose an increasing share of the working-age population in the decades to come • Given the construction industry’s labour requirements, it is imperative to facilitate their integration into the labour market • Process of assessing foreign credentials ad hoc • Language skills affects foreign workers ability to become certified • Immigrant serving agencies require better trade specific information Source: Statistics Canada

12. Aboriginal Peoples • Largest untapped and fastest growing labour pool in Canada • More than 50% under 25 years of age • Aboriginal population is expected to grow at an average rate of 1.8%, more than twice the rate of 0.7% for the general population, between now and 2017. • Aboriginal people in Canada account for about 3% of construction workforce • Based on projected construction job growth, close to 10,000 Aboriginal construction workers will be needed in the next 10 years

13. Women • Women account for approximately 47% of the paid labour force • Proportion of women remains low at 12% of entire construction workforce (about 3% in the trades) • Women have made great strides in some traditionally male dominated professions: • 48% in business and financial • 54% of doctors and dentists • 62% in social sciences

14. Older Workers • Workers over the age of 50 make up a significant portion of the workforce • Role of older workers will become increasingly important in areas like mentorship

15. Inter-Sectoral Mobility • Inter-sector mobility provides a way by which regional labour markets adjust to changing economic conditions • For example, in Ontario skill trades workers moving from the downsizing auto sector into the construction industry

16. Standards and Certification

17. CSC is developing a National Standard for a first level Supervisor Objectives of this project: To develop a national occupational analysis (NOA) and training standard for supervisors Recognize all sectors Incorporate Essential Skills Validation complete Next Steps: National Certification and Accreditation National Training Program Reviewing ACBOA Model applicability Construction Supervisor

18. Operating Engineers Accessibility & Mobility for Operating Engineers • Partnership between the CSC and COEJATC • Developed National Standards for 27 Operating Engineer occupations • Reviewed ACBOA Model • Developed Implementation Plan • Assisting industry in moving towards Red Seal Certification • Project is ongoing

19. ACBOA SUCCESS FOR CSC ACBOA very successful for all participants: Approach to developing certification and accreditation model as well as the implementation framework adaptable for other segments of the industry ACBOA’s ability to take the project from development of the model right through to developing an implementation framework is critical to the success. CSC enables building officials to put in place the groundwork for future provincial support for the national certification model ACBOA provided CSC opportunity to develop skills, knowledge, and an approach to the development of Certification and Accreditation models. These learnings can be applied to other segments of the industry and factored into future occupational standards work the CSC may undertake.

20. ACBOA SUCCESS FOR CSC ACBOA very successful for all participants: National Certification Process was successfully tested on 170 building officials from across Canada ACBOA certified another 225 building officials ACBOA intends to continue to certify qualified building officials in the months and years to come.

21. Questions ? Questions ?