Apprenticeship in Canada: A Training System Under Siege?

Andrew Sharpe

No 1999-03, CSLS Research Reports from Centre for the Study of Living Standards

Abstract: This paper reviews apprenticeship trends in Canada over the two decades from 1977 to 1997, and examines prospects for labour market conditions in the construction sector to 2005. It identifies several serious weaknesses in the apprenticeship system: stagnation in new registrations during the 1990s; the inability to expand beyond traditional fields such as the construction trades into growing occupations; the failure to increase the extremely low proportion of women enrolled (3 per cent); uneven provincial development; a very low completion rate (9.5 per cent) due to high dropout rates; and a strong downward trend in completion rates, which declined by one third over the two-decade period. The paper also presents optimistic and pessimistic labour market scenarios for the construction sector to 2005, and concludes that the apprenticeship system's weaknesses merit serious attention from all labour market partners.

Keywords: apprenticeship; skilled trades; completion rates; construction sector; labour market; training; post-secondary education; gender; provinces; Canada; ESDC; Red Seal (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1999-12
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