A shortage of skilled workers is intensifying in Canada, potentially threatening the pace of the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and that has policymakers looking at a largely untapped market for new construction workers: Women.
But attracting and retaining women in the skilled trades has long proven difficult, with tradeswomen and advocates citing challenges balancing childcare and on-site work, the stubborn sexism still ingrained in some workplaces, and a lack of opportunities for women to get a foot in the door.
Canada, like other developed nations, is facing a shortage of skilled trade workers just as a pandemic stimulus-backed building boom gets underway. At the same, more women than men remain unemployed because of the pandemic, and about 54,000 women have left the labour force since February 2020. "We're doing the work to mentor tradeswomen, to build our supply of under-represented groups," said Lindsay Amundsen, director of workforce development at Canada's Building Trades Unions. But she said there should be quotas on major projects to ensure women get hired.
By 2017, about 14% of construction tradespeople working in Newfoundland and Labrador were women, far above the national average of 3-4%, though some barriers remain. "I really think it does help with the retention for sure," said Alanna Marklund, a national manager at UAC who is also a journeyperson welder.
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