Trades indeed are under appreciated in some places. But…there are systemic reasons some trades are avoided. I work in forestry. The trade part of forestry, driving trucks, running a skidder, or working in a sawmill is just plain harder than the management side I went to university for. Living in a camp or working awful hours, in the mud or cold or dust is just not that appealing. And if anyone has ever slung drywall or installed roofing you will understand why those trades are typically for entry level people with few other options. Some trades avoid these pitfalls and are mentally challenging (electrician or…) with good working conditions. But some are just plain hard. With a worker shortage we will have to automate and improve efficiency for the least desirable trades. Witness how few workers exist in a modern sawmill, and the ones who are there are essentially computer operators, with very high skill and training requirements. And somewhere in the mill is an engineer who has to design and maintain all that automation.
Trade are also alot harder on the body. People don't want to do it. I don't blame them. Our standards here are outdated and companies don't want to spend money to help the employees with new equipment.
Thanks for writing this article, it is excellent and informative and speaks to the day!
Having worked almost three decades in and around the papermaking industry as an Operating Engineer, I recognized you may have missed a few fields within your discussion (I make this point not to argue, but hopefully for fuller picture of trades).
The papermaking and associated operating crews are only required to have a high school education completed. The Operating Engineers (Steam Plants, etc) are the only 'operator/trades' that have post-secondary education which in Ontario is governed by the TSSA (as is our elevator technician!)
Only the maintenance teams for the papermills and associated heavy equipment industry are Red Seal certified.
The vast number of heavy equipment operators supporting the paper (and logging) industry require a high school education but in recent years are now required to have formal equipment training and must have taken 'common core', a safety training program.
These jobs make up approximately 20-25% of our local workforce in rural Northern Ontario and in most cases belong to a union shop.
When my own sons were younger I was always trying to discover sectors just like the one you're describing. These are entire worlds that are simply invisible most of us and that's a real shame.
I guess most of these jobs are geographically tied to the mills. Also, is there a career path to graduate into to replace the "young man's" heavy work?
I would agree that many jobs are geographically tied. That's how it is perceived here, I would say.
Speaking from personal experience, I would suggest that getting into a support service industry such as I did, servicing office equipment or radio equipment may be the answer to your question, though many an industry or career sector seeks to improve (requires credentials for better pay) or seeks to streamline (simplifies work for lesser pay). That may be a bit of a rabbit hole, my apologies.
I'll add another forestry background perspective as a retired forester, forest engineer and consultant from the BC coast. Loggers used to enter the field setting chokers on logs with cable logging systems (hard and dangerous work) and now have become equipment operators harvesting and processing (almost all second growth) logs from inside the cabs of A/C equipped machines.
Your last comment approached an issue discouraging the trades is that the majority of growth in the labour market has come from the public sector where average wages are significantly higher than the trades with working conditions generally more favorable (teachers and nurses exempted). This has likely exacerbated the trend of too many going to university despite the lack of career path to follow.
One area that is likely better addressed by David is the low risk of most outdoor or mobile trades being replaced with AI in the near future. Who knows with robots?
Trades indeed are under appreciated in some places. But…there are systemic reasons some trades are avoided. I work in forestry. The trade part of forestry, driving trucks, running a skidder, or working in a sawmill is just plain harder than the management side I went to university for. Living in a camp or working awful hours, in the mud or cold or dust is just not that appealing. And if anyone has ever slung drywall or installed roofing you will understand why those trades are typically for entry level people with few other options. Some trades avoid these pitfalls and are mentally challenging (electrician or…) with good working conditions. But some are just plain hard. With a worker shortage we will have to automate and improve efficiency for the least desirable trades. Witness how few workers exist in a modern sawmill, and the ones who are there are essentially computer operators, with very high skill and training requirements. And somewhere in the mill is an engineer who has to design and maintain all that automation.
Trade are also alot harder on the body. People don't want to do it. I don't blame them. Our standards here are outdated and companies don't want to spend money to help the employees with new equipment.
Thanks for writing this article, it is excellent and informative and speaks to the day!
Having worked almost three decades in and around the papermaking industry as an Operating Engineer, I recognized you may have missed a few fields within your discussion (I make this point not to argue, but hopefully for fuller picture of trades).
The papermaking and associated operating crews are only required to have a high school education completed. The Operating Engineers (Steam Plants, etc) are the only 'operator/trades' that have post-secondary education which in Ontario is governed by the TSSA (as is our elevator technician!)
Only the maintenance teams for the papermills and associated heavy equipment industry are Red Seal certified.
The vast number of heavy equipment operators supporting the paper (and logging) industry require a high school education but in recent years are now required to have formal equipment training and must have taken 'common core', a safety training program.
These jobs make up approximately 20-25% of our local workforce in rural Northern Ontario and in most cases belong to a union shop.
When my own sons were younger I was always trying to discover sectors just like the one you're describing. These are entire worlds that are simply invisible most of us and that's a real shame.
I guess most of these jobs are geographically tied to the mills. Also, is there a career path to graduate into to replace the "young man's" heavy work?
I would agree that many jobs are geographically tied. That's how it is perceived here, I would say.
Speaking from personal experience, I would suggest that getting into a support service industry such as I did, servicing office equipment or radio equipment may be the answer to your question, though many an industry or career sector seeks to improve (requires credentials for better pay) or seeks to streamline (simplifies work for lesser pay). That may be a bit of a rabbit hole, my apologies.
I'll add another forestry background perspective as a retired forester, forest engineer and consultant from the BC coast. Loggers used to enter the field setting chokers on logs with cable logging systems (hard and dangerous work) and now have become equipment operators harvesting and processing (almost all second growth) logs from inside the cabs of A/C equipped machines.
Your last comment approached an issue discouraging the trades is that the majority of growth in the labour market has come from the public sector where average wages are significantly higher than the trades with working conditions generally more favorable (teachers and nurses exempted). This has likely exacerbated the trend of too many going to university despite the lack of career path to follow.
One area that is likely better addressed by David is the low risk of most outdoor or mobile trades being replaced with AI in the near future. Who knows with robots?
Ups and downs? Groan. But there's a shocking shortage of electricians!