Multi-day career fairs targeting Ontario students aim to fill major gap in skilled trades workforce

The Ontario government is calling it a first — putting on five multi-day career fairs across the province this fall to attract young people into the skilled trades amid a massive shortage of workers in the professions.

“We’re in the middle of the greatest labour shortage in a generation,” Minister of Labour Monte McNaughton said at a media event from inside Oriole Landscaping in East York on Tuesday.

McNaughton said the province is hosting students from Grades 7 to 12 in Mississauga, London, Ottawa, Sudbury, and Thunder Bay to promote skilled trade jobs. Transportation to the events is being organized, but any student from Ontario can also take part online.

The Ontario government says there are already 360,000 unfilled jobs in the province. By 2025, one in five jobs open are expected to be in the skilled trades.

McNaughton said 100,000 skilled workers alone are needed to meet the government’s commitment to build 1.5 million more homes by 2031, and he adds it is time to rethink going to university as the only path to success.

“There are many people making more in the skilled trades earning more than those with PhDs,” he said. “These are good paying jobs with pensions and benefits, where you can buy a home and raise a family.”

“We have roughly 10 per cent of our workforce missing from action, so we could easily hire 5 more staff,” Peter Guinane, the CEO of Oriole Landscaping, said.

The company has been working in design and construction for more than three decades. While it has been a challenge to find workers in the past, the CEO says the labour shortage has reached a new level. Guinane said he’s having trouble completing contracted jobs for the year.

“We can do a lot of training in-house, but we need people interested in working.”

Some high school students say the importance of getting a degree comes from their parents. Others say it's about the experience and choosing a career path fitting their interests, despite the trades shortage.

No [I haven’t thought about it] at all actually,” Grade 10 student Kimora Francois said. “Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to work with kids.”

“It does appeal to me in that it’s a really interesting work ethic,” Grade 11 student Maxwell Dell said. “[But] the career I really want to go into is real estate.”

“I like sciences and studying, getting into university, but if it doesn’t work out it’s always something I could consider,” Grade 10 student Flora Rumi said.

Trades are really consistent, at least 70 grand a year pretty much all the trades, their good jobs, hard work,“ Dave Steav, a Grade 12 student, told CTV News Toronto.

The career fairs expect to attract 25,000 students.