The narrative that blue-collar work is a second-class profession is a stereotype that is deterring young people from entering skilled trades and holding back economic progress in Canada.CSA ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES
Mandy Rennehan is a speaker, TV host, and founder and chief executive of Freshco, a construction management company focusing on retail facilities.
I remember bursting through the door of my home in Yarmouth, N.S., when I was 12, full of excitement about a wooden item I’d made that day in shop class. My mother looked it over and said, “Mandy, is this a paper-towel holder?“ I replied, proudly: “Yes, Mom, I made it in shop class!”
The next day, the paper-towel holder was hanging proudly on the side of our cabinets in the kitchen. My father said: “Did you make that at school, sweetie?” It was like he was questioning it, maybe wondering if a male teacher had made it and given it to me.
All girls and boys took shop class and home economics when I was in junior high more than 30 years ago, but these subjects were never seen as skills for future careers. They were presented as helpful life skills – something that could be an interesting hobby, perhaps, or help you whip up a decent weeknight meal.
When I look back at how wonderful the teachers were, and the resources that went into teaching these subjects, it is perplexing to me how myopic the leadership and vision were in the school system around what constituted a “respectable” career. Not once did anyone ever mention the blue-collar world – carpentry, plumbing, welding etc. – as a possibility.
I didn’t excel at academics, but I never forgot the passion I felt behind my first accomplishment in shop class. A tomboyish Yarmouth girl, I left home at 17 with a hockey bag filled with my worldly possessions, adamant about finding opportunities in the skilled trades.
It didn’t take me long to see that almost 100 per cent of the industry was male. These guys were taught these skills from an employer on a summer job, or they came from generations of immigrant tradespeople and had been exposed to the craft when they were young. Even 30 years ago, a lot of these men were aging, and were counting on their sons to take over their businesses or follow in their footsteps.
We as a country have taken for granted that these men and their sons would take the brunt of all groundwork projects, renovation additions and maintenance to our aging infrastructure. It used to work that way, but in recent decades, more families pushed their kids into white-collar jobs, and the backlog for workers in the skilled trades started ballooning. Today, the country doesn’t have nearly enough people available to work on housing, construction and infrastructure projects.
So, we have to ask: Who is in line to fix all this?
The narrative that blue-collar work is a second-class profession has led to massive delays and price escalations in routine projects of all kinds. There are limited bidders for government infrastructure projects, which leads to higher public expenses and longer timelines. People are waiting years to find a reputable builder – if they can even find one – and you can bet it’s not a woman showing up to provide a quote. Good luck if you want to get your dishwasher fixed within a week – or a month. And when was the last time you saw all the escalators working at an airport? Employees in the trades trying to meet deadlines are often worked to the point of sheer exhaustion, leading to a decline in their mental health and increased substance abuse.
Just like being an academic wasn’t for me, the skilled trades aren’t for everyone, but they can be a great career for many. Blue-collar jobs aren’t stuck in the dark ages, and often incorporate modern technologies such as artificial intelligence, automation and robotics. It can be an exciting and sexy career path.
For the past 20 years, I have been sounding the alarm about the need to see white-collar and blue-collar industries as equal, and speaking on the need to have equal opportunities and respect in order to bring more women and people from marginalized communities into the field. This way, they can see that the industry offers viable, rewarding career paths with great financial gain.
Over the past decade, I have turned away millions of dollars in work because my company didn’t have enough workers to expand across the country. I know of many other small and mid-sized construction firms in the same situation. The skilled-trades worker shortage isn’t “looming” – it’s been here for years. It’s strangling Canada’s economic growth.
It can take decades to change social attitudes, but I’m hopeful that new perspectives from employers, parents, educators and organizations can have influence. When I speak as part of the Women in Skilled Trades and Jill of All Trades programs, young women from Grades 9 to 12 show up by the busload, curious about what the day will entail. The energy is undeniable as they look at all the material for electrical work, robotics, carpentry, automotive mechanics and welding that they will use that day.
I tell them my story of coming from humble beginnings, being a gay woman and becoming a multimillionaire by the time I was 30 as an entrepreneur in the trades. I watch as hope rises in the room.
The number of women and people from marginalized communities enlisting in trade schools has increased in the past decade. The ones who get proper support on their journey do well. However, the bad news is that, by my estimate, 90 per cent of trades companies are still run by people who have not engaged in HR practices to make workplaces welcoming for women. I speak with many women who are faced with sexism and harassment. Often they develop depression or anxiety, and end up quitting the industry completely.
By improving the culture of our workplaces, we can genuinely communicate to young people of all backgrounds that they will be successful in the trades. Our young people need to be empowered to pick their career paths based on their passions and ambitions, not on what society says they should do. I wish I had a loonie for all the young people who have walked into my office and told me how they were lost career-wise after being pushed into university and a white-collar professional career.
I’m a big fan of the newly announced program that will allow Grade 11 and 12 students in Ontario to choose to spend the bulk of their time in a skilled-trades apprenticeship. This announcement gives the industry hope, and it gives these students the autonomy to experience a different kind of education to suit their career goals.
More young people should have the chance to build Canada – something they can brag about to their kids in the years to come. Just imagine if, in my shop class more than 30 years ago, seven or eight of us had chosen careers in the skilled trades – and the same thing had happened across the country. You can bet you’d be getting that dishwasher repaired a whole lot faster.