The trades are one of the fastest growing sectors in Canada and, as such, there are projected labour shortages in the coming years. This means there are more jobs than there are people to fill them. For this reason, a career in trades is a great way to ensure you will have employment when you leave school.

Red Seal Trades:
Based on the Canadian Occupations Projections for Red Seal trades, there are 24 Red Seal trades with projected labour shortages.

Construction:
The national construction labour force is estimated to rise by 100,000 workers between 2012 and 2020. The industry will need to replace 219,000 workers that are expected to retire over the next decade.

To address expansion and replacement demand requirements, industry will need to recruit an estimated 319,000 new workers to construction.

Growth in construction will be concentrated in the non-residential sector related mostly to resource projects. Trades required for this type of construction work include: boilermakers, carpenters, construction estimators, construction millwrights and industrial mechanics, crane operators, electricians, gasfitters, ironworkers, plumbers, sheet metal workers, steamfitters and pipefitters, and welders.

Oil and Gas:
By 2015, employment in the oil sands sector is projected to increase by 29 per cent over 2011 levels, or approximately 5,850 jobs.

The pipeline sector will add about 530 jobs over the same period.

The industry will need to do significant hiring to replace retiring workers and for turnover.

Mining:
The mining industry will need 112,000 new workers by 2020.

Forty per cent of the industry are 50 years old or older. One third of the workforce will be eligible to retire by 2015.

In Ontario, for example, employers will have significant hiring requirements– almost 16,000 workers over the coming decade will be needed just to replace retiring workers and people who leave the mining workforce in Ontario for other reasons.

Automotive:
In the automotive industry, cumulative shortages over the next ten years are projected to range between 43,700 to 77,150 positions.

Overall, almost one-half (48.1%) of employers reported that the insufficient supply of qualified staff to hire was a significant or very significant issue for their organization.

Labour shortages were seen as a major problem among employers in the motorcycle repair sector (57.1%) and auto body/collision repair sector (54.3%).

Tourism:
By 2030, demand for labour in the tourism sector will grow to 2.1 million jobs, an increase of 33 per cent.

The growing gap between labour demand and the number of available workers will cause a significant number of jobs to go unfilled over the next 20 years.

By 2030, shortages in the tourism sector could grow to 228,000 jobs, leaving 10.7 per cent of potential labour demand unfilled.

If the expected shortages are not mitigated, the sector could forgo $31.4 billion in potential revenues by 2030.