Long before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Nova Scotia’s construction industry was staring down a future plagued by a major shortage of skilled tradespeople.

Now, as the economy begins to recover and construction ramps back up, the problem has become worse than ever.

Duncan Williams, the president and CEO of the Construction Association of Nova Scotia, says it’s tough to gauge exactly how many tradespeople the province needs, but estimates 8,000 to 9,000 will need to be replaced over the next five years. On top of that, there will probably be 3,000 new positions created that will have to be filled.

A recent report from the Nova Scotia Apprenticeship Agency puts those numbers a little lower, estimating the province will need close to 12,000 new, certified tradespeople over the next 10 years.

But Williams argues the shortage isn’t something that’s years away: it’s here now, and it’s already bad.

“I hesitate to say the word ‘crisis.’ But we are very close to a situation where we don’t have enough workers. That is a given. We just don’t have enough workers right now,” he says. “If I was a betting person, I would say we can easily bring into this industry 1,000 people tomorrow, with little hesitation at all.”

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