Recruitment tool for P.E.I. trades 'seeing positive growth,' says construction association

The Construction Association of P.E.I. says it's hopeful the work that's been done filling trades jobsthrough the Island Builder recruitment campaign will convince the province to keep that program running, as funding is set to expire at the end of this year.

Sam Sanderson, general manager of the association, said with hundreds of trades jobs still vacantand many projects well-underway to address the shortages, he's optimistic the province will see the merits of continued support for the program.

"We've had great communication and conversations with our provincial people," said Sanderson. "They're liking what we're doing and seeing very positive growth, and we're hoping that it's going to continue."

He said since the multimedia recruitment campaign launched in 2018, a human resources position has been created to help connect candidates with hundreds of vacant trades positions across Prince Edward Island.

He said there's also been a lot of time and energy put into promoting careers in trades to women, newcomers and Indigenous communities.

"Over the course of the last 12 months we've had our Youth in Trades Program, we've had our Indigenous in Trades program, and we've started a Newcomers in Trades program just two weeks ago," said Sanderson.

"We're also forming a new women's committee at the association, and looking for some vibrant women within the industry to become part of that committee and get more involved in the industry."

He also attributes Island Builder to a massive increase in resumes received by employers, withapplicants from more than a dozen countries.

He estimates three to fivepositions are filled a weekthanks to the program. But said there's still plenty of work to be done, with an average of 20 new positions added to the list of vacancies every week and a total of roughly 300 vacant positions at the moment.

'We need people'

Sanderson estimates that in the next seven to 10 years, there will be a shortage of about 1,000 workers in the trades in Prince Edward Island.

"We're an association with roughly190 company members that put roughly $340 millioninto the economy in Prince Edward Island in 2018. Looking at more than that in 2019," he said.

"We need people. We need people to grow and we need a way for our members to grow as well."

He said that growth will dependa lot on continued supportfrom the province, which has paid out a total of $137,000 to the Island Builder campaign so far that's $82,000 for 2018, and $55,000 in 2019.

Officials with the province saidthey plan to meet with the association soonto look at the results of the Island Builder campaign and determine next steps.

"We partner with a number of organizations in terms of addressing labour market needs, and we would certainly consider this project to be good value," said Richard Gallant, director of Skills PEI.

"It's great to see an industry organization come forward and say'We want to implement a plan. We want to do something to profile our sector, to recruit new individuals, to train youth, we want to be able to do this stuff.'"

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