Estimated reading time: 9 minutes
Unsure about university? Explore the skilled trades as a rewarding career path. Learn about the advantages of skilled trades and their impact on the job market.
Career Changes Over The Years
There used to be a time when the working class filled the skilled trade positions within Canada and other countries.
The middle and upper class went to university and took higher-paying jobs, which was how life was.
As times changed, more and more people decided that going to university was the better choice for finding a career.
This increase in students has had some adverse effects, including the shortage of skilled tradespeople in the industry.
Wages And Debt In The Trades
The other side effect is decreased wages in some university fields, which is purely because of the over-saturation of the job market.
Companies can have the pick of people and pay them fewer wages because they can replace one person with another from the thousands waiting for employment.
I remember that in the UK, several University graduates couldn’t find employment in their chosen field.
Instead, they ended up in low-paid positions in a completely unrelated field, such as fast food or retail.
Looking at what is happening in the USA and Canada, you can see the same trend.
Some university students complete their degrees and fail to find employment after school.
This leaves them with a mountain of debt they managed to secure to go to school.
This means many students struggle to pay back OSAP fast, although it’s not impossible.
In the last few years, trades have gained interest because there aren’t enough people with in-demand skilled trades.
The government is motivating students to get involved with a career in the trades, primarily through TV advertisements.
All apprentices gain experience through on-the-job training and trade school.
Women In Trades
There are increasing numbers of women entering the trades, and not just stereotypical jobs such as hairstylist or cook are being filled.
Mechanical-based trades such as heavy equipment technician and millwright, dominated by men in the past, have started to change.
Highly skilled women are attaining positions within the Red Seal Trades, but there’s a need to reach more candidates.
A Trade allows the person to take the trade inter-provincial, moving from province to province.
Women don’t get special treatment and must deal with the same physically demanding issues that some trades entail.
I know one woman who is an automotive technician in Ontario.
She has completed her trade school, written her license exam, and is now a licensed mechanic.
It’s not only men who like to get dirty and sweaty.
It can be a rewarding career for anyone.
List Of Red Seal Trades In Canada
Below is an alphabetical list of the Red Seal Trades in Canada from the official website.
A- Red Seal starting with the letter A
- Agricultural Equipment Technician
- Appliance Service Technician
- Auto Body and Collision Technician
- Automotive Refinishing Technician
- Automotive Service Technician
B- Red Seal starting with the letter B
C- Red Seal starting with the letter C
- Cabinetmaker
- Carpenter
- Concrete Finisher
- Construction Craft Worker
- Construction Electrician
- Cook
D- Red Seal starting with the letter D
- Drywall Finisher and Plasterer
F- Red Seal starting with the letter F
- Floorcovering Installer
G- Red Seal trades starting with the letter G
- Gasfitter — Class A
- Gasfitter — Class B
- Glazier
H- Red Seal starting with the letter H
- Hairstylist
- Heavy Duty Equipment Technician
- Heavy Equipment Operator (Dozer)
- Heavy Equipment Operator (Excavator)
- Heavy Equipment Operator (Tractor-Loader-Backhoe)
I- Red Seal starting with the letter I
- Industrial Electrician
- Industrial Mechanic (Millwright)
- Instrumentation and Control Technician
- Insulator (Heat and Frost)
- Ironworker (Generalist)
- Ironworker (Reinforcing)
- Ironworker (Structural/Ornamental)
L- Red Seal starting with the letter L
- Landscape Horticulturist
- Lather (Interior Systems Mechanic)
M- Red Seal starting with the letter M
- Machinist
- Metal Fabricator (Fitter)
- Mobile Crane Operator
- Motorcycle Technician
O- Red Seal starting with the letter O
Oil Heat System Technician
P- Red Seal starting with the letter P
- Painter and Decorator
- Parts Technician
- Plumber
- Powerline Technician
R- Red Seal starting with the letter R
- Recreation Vehicle Service Technician
- Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Mechanic
- Roofer
S- Red Seal starting with the letter S
- Sheet Metal Worker
- Sprinkler Fitter
- Steamfitter/Pipefitter
T- Red Seal starting with the letter T
- Tile Setter
- Tool and Die Maker
- Tower Crane Operator
- Transport Trailer Technician
- Truck and Transport Mechanic
W- Red Seal starting with the letter W
- Welder
Understanding Trade School
Colleges that teach the theory and practical skills necessary for skilled trades, such as mechanics, electricians, plumbers, etc.
Ontario has several trade colleges, some more specialized on one campus than the other.
Depending on your choice of skilled trade could determine where you have to study.
High classroom demand can also dictate your travel plans when attending school.
Over the years, the trades have fallen out of favor with youth because they had attracted ‘supposedly’ less educated individuals.
Most trades are technically based and involve extensive training, an ongoing process throughout any tradesperson’s career.
Some skills involved require maths and science, so it’s not as low on the academic scale as you think.
Some trades pay very well, and if you follow the herds to “Fort McMoney,“ you get paid a ridiculous sum.
You will make a decent wage if you don’t plan to travel and stay close to home.
One guy I know went into the trades at a young age and ran a multi-million dollar trucking shop.
You never know where a trade career will take someone because there are many avenues to explore.
After gaining experience, employment options include supervisory roles, teaching, or owning a business.
Career Traits
Young adults’ attitudes are unsurprising because we groom them to be ready for a world filled with technology.
Still, the funny part is the trades industry is just as saturated with that technology.
Our friend says he gave up working in the trades when he was younger due to stupidity and wished he would have stayed in the industry.
His daughter, a university graduate, struggles to find a job now that she is done with school and has loans to repay.
He talked to his son about entering the trades; as even his friends have struggled to find full-time careers.
Today’s kids are not interested in physical work and would rather not work in such a field.
They are used to sitting in front of computers and gaming systems, and the mere thought of physical labor does not enter their minds.
His son said, no way am I going into a trade.
Let’s hope he doesn’t look back and eat his words like his father, but we must allow children to follow the career path they want.
It’s their choice, and what happens after they leave home is up to them. All you can do as a parent is offer advice and guide a child.
Apprenticeship Incentive Grant
The government is also concerned about the low number of tradespeople entering the workforce to replace the aging population.
While the cost of University goes up and students are taking out increasingly more prominent OSAP loans, apprentices are being given money.
As each level of a trade school is complete and a set amount of hours in the workplace are attained, the Ontario Government pays the apprentice an interim payment of $1,000.
Once levels 1 and 2 are completed, level 3 and the writing of your license will be next, but only after the completion of hours.
Apprenticeship Completion Grant
After successfully writing your exam and obtaining your licence or trade certification, another $2,000 is yours from the government.
The Ontario Apprenticeship Grants will pay out a total of $4,000 for you to go to college.
Additionally, you can claim employment insurance when you go to school because you are in paid full-time employment.
Once you have spent several years in your chosen trade and obtained your license, you should have minimal debt to pay back.
Careers After Obtaining A Trade Licence
You should also have a substantial career ahead of you and can utilize those skills you have learned and apply them to other aspects of life.
Until recently, the ministry was government-funded and ran the apprenticeship programs and licensing.
Skilled Trades Ontario has now taken on this responsibility and will be your new source of information.
So, no matter what you choose to do with your life, it’s up to you to make an informed decision, starting with proper research.
Whether you are a young student or returning to school as an adult, getting involved with a trade is a great way to get yourself back into the game.
If you’re unafraid of manual labor and ready to work, the trade industry might be right for you.
“…kids of today are not interested in physical work.” I think there is some truth to this. As a high school teacher, I see glimpses of this coming out in comments made by my students.
We never had the computers in school like the kids did today or if we did it was a glimpse of them and it was rare to have them at home. We were outside playing after school not sitting indoors with video games. Different generation of children I believe.
I think the trades are a fantastic choice. I just read an issue of moneysense where the young girl profiled was working a dead end job in retail sales in a mall where she hated. She applied to do some sort of apprenticeship for welding and went from making like 30k/year for 100+k/year and loves her job!
Well if someone has what it takes there certainly is money to be made.
One of the University schools here offers a Welding course for only 6 months and the course cost $30K. And they guaranteed when you are finished with the rush course, you will have a good job with a good pay and one of their clients are Canada and New Zealand!
Several points to consider here Mr.CBB. Don’t believe anything the government tells you. The shortage of tradesmen is actually a shortage of tradesmen that will travel. The government uses this argument to bring in substandard foreign workers in their attempt to bring the wage rates down and break the unions. An apprentice finishing their time should have no debt unless they paid for a third party course/qualification. An apprentice has few expenses other than his work clothes and safety equipment; often supplied by the contractor. The last thirty or more years the government and I dare say a lot of parents, have expected most high school students to go to university for those cushy white collar jobs. Post secondary education is a huge money maker and you only have to look at the teacher situation in Ontario to realize most new teaching graduates will never teach in this province. The province is perfectly happy to take your tuition for four years knowing there will not be a job at the end of it. In Clarisse’s experience, an apprentice accepted into a union shop can be trained as a welder with no course cost. It has been my union experience that it is not unusual to get 1000 applications for 50 positions. A significant number of the applicants are university grads that have little chance of acceptance because their high school classes did not include math and chemistry at the grade 12/13 level. The apprentices accepted into the union are looking at five years of night school as well as continuing education for those that have a gas licence. I taught union night school for 16 years and it was a pleasure to have people in class that wanted to be there and were being paid while learning their craft. I retired at 60 with a full pension after thirty years of service, a rare thing it seems these days. I’ve heard it said, the jobs maybe dirty, but the money’s clean.
I often read where the construction industry is crying for trades people. A lot of the people working in those trades are older and will be retiring in the next while. A friend of the older boy apprenticed as an electrician and is doing very well. He trained right out of high school. A friend of the younger boy took a co-op option as a brick layer in high school and then apprenticed there after… again he is doing very well. Might be a bit of a dirty job but he is in high demand.
Our daughter went to college to train as an Early Childhood Educator and is well respected by her peers. I have a nephew and a niece that went to university and both had trouble getting any job in their field, both went back to school but to a college to actually get a job. my nephew is working at a good job now with the trade he took in college. His sister is going back to university to get her Masters. She worked in the food industry through university and college. She is working at a place that works with and helps young people with mental illness and loves it. It works with her degree and the college social worker program she took. She just won an award with a ‘significant’ financial component to it but I haven’t heard the full details from Colie yet.
Our older boy was training as a mechanic with the DND before he got a medical discharge. I’m not sure if he is mentally ready to go back to that or do something else but the depression will always be there to some degree. I would have no issues with his brother going into the trades, but it will be his call. He is thinking about it….
I recently watched an interview with Mike Rowe from “Dirty Jobs” and he was talking about how a lot of these jobs are now unfillable. He also went on to say that as a generation we have steered so many students to 4 year degrees and it has produced a huge deficit of skillable workers.
Yes, that’s just it and many of these students have degrees and no where to go with them or they get into jobs that are unrelated to what they went to University for which is where I say, what’s the point if you can’t do what you love.