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A recent BuildForce Canada study predicts one in five veteran pros will retire over the next 10 years. At the same time, more than 266,000 new workers under age 30 are entering the trades – which doesn’t leave much time to properly train new tradespeople and transfer that vast wealth of experience before it disappears.
According to longtime carpenter Chris Crocker, there won’t be a shortage of work opportunities for new tradespeople, but to stand a chance at filling the veterans’ boots, the new folks need to learn the kinds of skills that can only be picked up on the job.
“It’s so important to me because one day I will be retired and a lot of the younger generation just haven’t had that sort of background,” he says. “If we can’t provide them with the skills and knowledge, I know I’m going to be on a ladder one day at 90 years old, replacing a shingle – because there’ll be nobody else to do it.”
Thankfully, the LePage Pro Support program encourages experienced pros to provide their best nuggets of wisdom for up-and-coming tradespeople, and for industry newcomers to ask questions.
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