Career opportunities for skilled trades

This is the second post in a two-part blog series. It is an interpretation of industry-validated occupational supply and demand analyses, forecasts and competency profiles for occupations in Canada’s automotive sector.

The content of both blogs is based on a paper entitled Automotive Industry Labour Market Analysis: Post-Secondary Education Report, one of the most comprehensive dissections of entry level opportunities in the Canadian automotive industry available. 

Our goal is to supply enhanced regional labour market information that will support colleges, employers, policy makers and other stakeholders. This will help them take steps to address competency shortages and other labour market challenges in the Canadian automotive sector.

Canada has strong educational institutions to support careers and occupations in the auto industry. As these blogs demonstrate, Canada has no shortage of programs for students interested in pursuing an engineering, technical, management and skilled trades profession in the automotive industry. A previous post in this series discussed career opportunities for those in engineering, technical and management roles.

Skilled trades

This blog post will provide an overview of post-secondary education programs that provide a labour supply for the automotive sector in Canada – specifically for those qualified in the category we define as Skilled Trades.

The opportunities are considerable and the range of programs vast. Simply by clicking on this Automotive Industry Labour Market Analysis: Post-Secondary Education Report link 

you will be taken to a document that breaks down the employment possibilities in a series of comprehensive and easy-to-read charts – an example of which is displayed below.

A shortage of people trained to repair increasingly complex vehicles

As noted in part one of this series, these charts present opportunities by geographical region, job category, and more. They demonstrate one compelling truth: the opportunities and range of learning channels available through Canada’s education system are vast, including excellent opportunities to learn in a college or university environment.

Many of these jobs – especially those in the skilled trades category – are going unfilled because, as reported recently in Automotive News Canada, there is “a shortage of people trained to repair increasingly complex vehicles.

Specifically, the news report notes: “Auto dealers are in need of skilled mechanics to work on vehicles that have more computer technology than ever. As vehicles become more connected and autonomous, dealerships will need service staff who are comfortable working on cameras and software.”

Two reasons, driven by technical and educational changes in the automotive industry, are typically offered for this skilled trade shortcoming:

• The pace of technological advances in the average vehicle.
• The shift away from vocational training in secondary education.

If you haven’t read part one of this blog series, it’s worth looking at the section on microcredentials, which applies to those in skilled trades as well as engineering, management, technical and/or soft skill-based roles. These highly focused courses represent an excellent opportunity for skilled trades to enhance or broaden their skills in order to advance their career in the automotive industry.

A stigma-driven skilled trade gap

This skilled trade gap, which the FOCAL Initiative – a collaboration between the Canadian Skills Training and Employment Coalition (CSTEC), the Automotive Policy Research Centre and Prism Economics and Analysis – is in part designed to address, costs Canadian automotive businesses (including auto dealerships) millions of dollars every year.

One of the challenges in attracting skilled trades in the automotive industry is based on a historical, out-of-date stigma – that a skilled trade in the automotive industry isn’t a lucrative, sophisticated and rewarding career. On the contrary, there is a large breadth of exceptional career opportunities for skilled trades in the automotive industry. Today’s automotive plants are safe, clean and provide challenging and stimulating responsibilities in this sector, which is rapidly evolving towards being a high tech manufacturing sector, featuring automation, robotics, machine learning and analytics. These positions are foundational for the proper operation of equipment and production of highly sophisticated products. Organizationally, they are highly valued and respected, offering above average  wages and careers, subsidized education and training, and are in significant demand.

The automotive industry is a critical part of Canada’s economy. A driver of high skills, good jobs, and research and product innovation, Canada continues to be a world-renowned auto manufacturing centre, from component parts to assembly, and continues to be one of the world’s leading auto-making jurisdictions.Canada is home to five global automakers operating passenger car and light truck assembly plants. These include Stellantis (formerly Fiat Chrysler), Ford, General Motors, Toyota and Honda. Our automotive industry includes:

• A highly developed component parts sector.
• Manufacturer managed in-house engine and transmission plants.
• Hundreds of independent auto parts suppliers.

This latter category of suppliers include Canadian-owned firms that are among the largest in the world: Magna, Linamar, Martinrea and Multimatic. All offer entry level skilled trade opportunities for appropriately qualified candidates. 

Conclusion

As we state in the Automotive Industry Labour Market Analysis: Post-Secondary Education Report, Our research indicates that between 188,000 jobs are dependent on the sector. Our preliminary work also indicates that included in those job numbers are over 20,000 skilled trades and other jobs with a technical orientation.

Among the charts embedded in the Automotive Industry Labour Market Analysis: Post-Secondary Education Report you will find:

• Post-secondary education and training programs offered by publicly funded universities and colleges.
• Programs/courses offered by private career colleges that match key occupations in demand in the broader automotive sector.
• That list of programs and courses includes institution name, program name, and occupations by automotive region for key occupations in the skilled trades category.

Find out more from FOCAL

The Future of Canadian Automotive Labourforce (FOCAL) Initiative is a collaboration of the Canadian Skills Training and Employment Coalition (CSTEC), the Automotive Policy Research Centre and Prism Economics and Analysis. 

Funded by the Government of Canada, you can find out more about us on our website and follow us on Social Media – LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – and through our newsletter.