About 8,700 Nova Scotians are expected to retire from the construction industry in the next decade

A looming labour shortage has the construction industry looking to youth and people from diverse backgrounds to make up the difference.

About 8,700 Nova Scotians are expected to retire from the industry in the next decade, according to a recent report from BuildForce Canada, which tracks labour market information.

“We’re facing some real challenge … with our aging population and over the longer term that’s creating a real shortfall,” Duncan Williams, president of the Construction Association of Nova Scotia, told Information Morning Cape Breton’s Steve Sutherland.

“We’re trying to plan and get people interested in construction as a career choice.”

Williams said a program developed with partners such as the province and NSCC that’s aimed at attracting students in Grades 10 and 11 to the trades is helping to drum up interest in the industry.

“We’ve introduced well over 800 students to construction and they’ve decided to stay in construction,” said Williams.

The program offers paid summer work terms, co-operative education credits and allows students to register as pre-apprentices in the construction trades.

“Nova Scotia’s skilled trade sector is one of the highest job opportunity sectors in Nova Scotia,” Kathy Greeno, director of career pathways for the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, said in a press release. 

“With this projected increase in labour shortage, it is more important than ever for youth to explore careers in skilled trades.”

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