Introduction

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The survey
Users and purpose of data

Skilled tradespeople play an important role in the Canadian economy and are essential to building and maintaining Canada's competitive position in the global knowledge-based economy. Statistics Canada's 2006 census reported that almost 12%¹ of the people in the country's labour force have a background in the skilled trades obtained either through apprenticeship, a trade certificate or a trade diploma. This proportion in Ontario is 9%. Skilled trades workers are present in a wide range of sectors across the country such as automotive repair, construction, transportation, oil and gas extraction, other natural resources development, and the aerospace industry, to name a few. This speaks to the importance of the skilled trade labour force.

Apprenticeship training is the primary method to train Canada's skilled trades workers. It is a well-established method of acquiring skills and gaining knowledge necessary to become a skilled tradesperson through a combination of practical on-the-job training (80%) and intensive in-school technical training (20%). Provinces and territories are responsible for regulating and administering apprenticeship programs and certifying tradespeople. The federal government works together with the provinces and territories through the Canadian Council of Directors of Apprenticeship in supporting the development of a highly-skilled and adaptable workforce in the skilled trades as well as facilitating interprovincial mobility in the trades. In response to the existence of over 200 apprenticeable trades in Canada, the federal, provincial and territorial governments established the Interprovincial Standards Red Seal Program in the mid-1950's. This is a collaborative initiative designed to facilitate interprovincial mobility of skilled trades workers through the harmonisation of trades training requirements and certification based on interprovincial examinations. Today there are 49 skilled trades covered under the Red Seal program and these trades represent over 90% of all apprentices. Industry plays an important role in the delivery and shaping of apprenticeship training across the country, including the Red Seal Program. Learning institutions, unions and private trainers deliver in-school technical training to apprentices, an essential part of apprenticeship systems.

Many years of strong economic growth in Canada have resulted in increased labour market demand for highly skilled and trained tradespeople and Canada's apprenticeship systems have responded. Registration in apprenticeship programs has increased to record levels. In 2005, a total of 245,180 individuals were registered in apprenticeship programs across Canada, an increase of 52% since 2000².

Despite an increase in the number of individuals registering in apprenticeship programs, the number of people completing apprenticeship programs each year has changed very little over the past several decades. In 2005, a total of 20,555 individuals completed an apprenticeship program, an increase of only 12% since 2000³.

There are many reasons why an apprentice may discontinue an apprenticeship program or take longer than average to complete an apprenticeship. In the past, the principal reason apprentices discontinued their programs was a shortage of work. With current labour market conditions, this should no longer be such a major factor.

Added to this issue are the demographic pressures that exist in the skilled trades labour force. The median age of individuals in the trades has been increasing steadily, and the number of retirements is expected to be significant over the next decade. Given the ageing skilled trade labour force and the flat completion numbers, a shortage of workers in the trades in some regions of Canada may develop in the coming years. As well, not all Canadians are participating fully in apprenticeship. Ensuring access to apprenticeship and employment in the skilled trades among Aboriginal peoples, women, visible minorities and foreign-trained skilled trade workers is essential to building and maintaining both apprenticeship and the needs of the Canadian economy.

This suggests that while apprenticeship has served the needs of the Canadian economy well, current apprenticeship systems need to evolve in response to the changing demands of individual apprentices, employers and the knowledge-based economy. This much anticipated 2007 NAS survey provides a glimpse of the motivations that led apprentices to choose careers in the skilled trades and insights into how apprentices perceived their apprenticeship and post-apprenticeship labour market experiences. These are important findings which will contribute to ensuring that the apprenticeship systems in Canada remain strong and robust.

The survey

The 2007 NAS was a telephone survey done by Statistics Canada to gather information on the training and employment experiences of apprentices across Canada. The sample population for the survey was randomly selected from a list of people who were registered as apprentices with their provincial or territorial authorities during the period of 2002 to 2004. A total sample of 67,000 respondents was targeted. Please refer to Appendix 3 for the description of the 2007 NAS survey methodology.

Survey respondents were selected based on apprenticeship status in 2002, 2003 or 2004 as reported by provincial or territorial jurisdictions. The three groups of apprentices were:

• Long-term continuers: people who were still a registered apprentices in 2004 and who had been registered apprentices for more than one and a half the prescribed duration time required to complete their apprenticeship programs and who had not earned their certification by 2004.
• Completers: people who had been registered apprentices and had completed their apprenticeship programs (with or without certification) at some point during 2002 to 2004.
• Discontinuers: people who had been registered apprentices at some point in the past and had discontinued their apprenticeship programs between 2002 and 2004.

In the context of the survey itself, respondents confirmed their apprenticeship status by answering a set of screening questions at the beginning of the NAS questionnaire. Their status in 2007 determined the sequence of questions they were subsequently asked.

The screening questions used to categorize respondents were designed to help capture information about the various pathways followed by people pursuing trade qualifications through apprenticeship programs. While the apprenticeship programs are typically structured with two types of required training (in-class and on-the-job) followed by exams and certification, apprenticeship is a flexible system with many entry points and routes to completion. Some people work in a trade for a number of years before registering and taking their in-class training. Others, who have enough work experience, may challenge the examination without registering as apprentices or completing in-class training thus becoming trade qualifier. This accounts for the presence in the survey results of less traditional pathways to become a journeyperson like the discontinuers with certification.

The last apprenticeship survey, the 1995 National Apprenticed Trades Survey (NATS), focused only on two groups of apprentices: "completers," those who had completed their apprenticeship programs; and "discontinuers," those who had dropped out of their programs before completion.

The 2007 survey included additional components and questions designed to address new issues and research topics related to the current context of apprenticeship in Canada. The survey also added a new group of apprentices, "long-term continuers," those who had remained in their programs for one and a half the expected time or longer mainly to try to understand why some apprentices take longer to complete their apprenticeship programs. Thus the survey focused on three groups:

• Long-term continuers,
• Completers – those who completed the program during 2002 to 2004, and
• Discontinuers – those who dropped out of their program during 2002 to 2004.

Expanding on the previous survey, the 2007 NAS aimed to investigate the factors affecting apprentices' completion and certification, and to measure their transition to the labour market. The specific objectives were to better understand:

• why some registered apprentices do not complete their programs,
• how completion affects the labour market outcome of trainees, and
• why some apprentices take much longer than expected to complete their programs.

Between January and May 2007, the survey collected information from the three groups of apprentices. Each group was asked a common set of questions as well as a separate set of questions specific to their situations. The questions focused on the following areas.

• Pre-apprenticeship educational, training, and work experiences
• Experiences concerning technical training and work as an apprentice
• Reasons why discontinuers do not complete their program
• Difficulties encountered during apprenticeship
• Experience with the certification process
• Employment since the apprenticeship program
• General social-demographic characteristics

About half of the 1995 questionnaire content was considered to be still relevant to the current context of apprenticeship programs and was adapted for use in the 2007 NAS. In addition the 2007 survey included a component on apprentice mobility to respond to the emerging issue of apprentices migrating from one jurisdiction to another during or after their programs, and a component to examine the apprenticeship experiences of newcomers to Canada.

For information on the methodology of the survey such as target population, frame and sample design, data accuracy and response rates, please refer to Appendix 3.

Users and purpose of data

The data presented in this report will allow reviewers to compare labour outcomes for discontinuers and completers, identify reasons for interest and obstacles to registration, study barriers to completion by trade, and analyze the perception of the apprentice on their in-class and on-the-job training. It will also help answer questions about the mobility of apprentices during and after their programs.

The CCDA and its members can use the survey data to improve programs and to assist policy formation. Provincial and territorial apprenticeship authorities should be able to use the findings to evaluate their respective programs. In addition the results could be used to monitor factors affecting apprenticeship and to identify topics for future research.

It should be noted that where possible this report mirrors the results presented in the NAS 2007 National overview report. However due to data quality limitations in some sections it is not possible to present results at the provincial level. In these instances results are not summarized in the report but the data quality indicators are summarized in the Appendix 1 Tables.

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Notes

1. Statistics Canada. 2007. Highest level of educational attainment for the population aged 25 to 64, 2006 counts for both sexes, for Canada, provinces and territories - 20% sample data.
   Education Highlight Tables. 2006 Census. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 97-560-XWE2006002. Ottawa. Released March 4, 2008. .
2. Statistics Canada, Registered Apprentice Information System (RAIS), 2005.
3. Idem.