What is the Future for Construction Electricians?

The demand for Construction Electricians is high; it seems that everywhere you look people are building.  It is estimated that there are more than 265,000 firms in the construction sector and that in Canada it is a $168 billion industry.  The industry is broken up into four construction sectors:

  1. New Home Building and Renovations - This sector involves building, remodeling or renovating houses and apartment buildings.  For many the idea of helping to create a home for a family is very satisfying.  It can also mean working in and building your own community.  
  2. Heavy Industry Construction - This sector involves building large-scale projects such as chemical and power plants, refineries and numerous oil sand installations
  3. Institutional and Commercial Construction - This sector involves building large structures such as office building, apartment and condominium building, schools and hospitals
  4. Civil Engineering Construction - These construction projects include highways and bridges, power and communication lines, water and sewer lines and many other large scale civil engineering projects like dams and hydro electric undertakings.

According to BC's Industry Training Authority more than a million job opportunities will be available in BC between now and 2020 and it's estimated that there will be a skill shortage of 61,500 workers by 2020.  Even the federal government has highlighted the skilled jobs gap and in its Budget 2013 has taken some important steps toward fixing the problem such as creating the Canada Job Grant and creating more opportunities and incentives for apprentices to complete their training and make mobility across the country easier by harmonizing requirements.

The Canada Job Grant will potentially provide $15,000 or more per individual to help them gain access to the training they need to get jobs in the high-demand fields such as electricians, carpenters, engineers and more.  Once the program will be fully implemented, it is expected that each year, 130,000 Canadians will get access to training at eligible career colleges, community colleges and training centres.

There is never a better time to consider a trades career path.