Addressing the skills gap continues to be top of mind with Canadian workers, according to a new study by Ipsos-Reid on behalf of Randstad Canada. In fact, more than nine-in-ten (91.2%) of working Canadians say they feel that the skills shortage/skills gap will continue to be an issue of importance in Canada in 2014. 
The Randstad Canada Labour Trends Study 2014, polling 2,076 Canadian employees and managers across the country on their expectations for the coming year, revealed that a lack of skilled trades workers (16.3%), outsourcing of jobs or increases in numbers of international workers (15.2%) and a lack of skilled workers overall (9.9%) are the biggest issues that the country’s organizations are facing in 2014. Those in the Prairies (23.2%) and Alberta (21.6%) are most likely to feel that a lack of skilled trades workers is the single biggest issue in 2014.
“What we are seeing here is reflective of what we’ve seen in the field throughout the past year – organizations in the industrial and technical sectors are struggling to find highly skilled candidates,” says Tom Turpin, President, Randstad Canada. “This is especially true in the West, where oil & gas projects are booming, and in Quebec where we see growth in the IT and aerospace fields”.
Skilled trades: the most promising industry for Canadians
Skilled trades is the area in which most Canadians see the greatest job opportunities for 2014. Nearly half (44.7%) see skilled trades as one of the top 3 industries for job opportunities in the coming year, with nearly one in four (23.8%) seeing it as the single best industry for opportunities in the coming year. Healthcare (38.2%), Oil & Gas (33.9%), Technology (26.9%), and Engineering and Construction (25.2%) were also amongst the top five for opportunities based on the opinions of those polled.
Men are more likely than women to believe that Oil & Gas and Engineering and Construction present the best/most opportunities in the coming year; however, women (48.5%) were more likely than men (42.3%) to see skilled trades as the industry offering the best/most job opportunities in 2014.
Industry sectors like Not for Profit, Academia, Arts, Entertainment and Recreation, Consumer Packaged Goods, and Security were the areas that the majority of respondents believed provided the least amount of opportunity in 2014. Additionally, three in ten (28.9%) respondents see trades skills (i.e. plumbing, electrical, etc.) as the most in demand skill set today. This is especially true west of Ontario and East of Quebec, signaling high demand on both coasts for skilled trades workers.
Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at Skills Gap Still Top of Mind Issue for Canadian Workers in 2014.
Related articles
- Training in Canada / 91 per cent of Canadian workers say employers should pay the bill survey finds
- Canada / 84 per cent believe experience weighs harder than education
- Canada / Skills gap top barrier to competitiveness says Chamber of Commerce
- Canada / The Middle-class dream is a ‘myth’ says an internal report
Job Market Monitor 
Discussion
No comments yet.