Jobs minister urges youth to pursue skilled trades despite generational stigma

OTTAWA — Federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu says Canada must break the stigma around careers in the skilled trades if the Liberals want to achieve their infrastructure and homebuilding agenda.

Hajdu says when she was growing up in Thunder Bay, Ont., students who attended a skilled trades high school in the city were “deeply stigmatized” by their choice.

She says over the past four decades, youth have been told a university degree was the best path to success even though skilled trades careers can come with high earning potential.

Hajdu says the federal government is looking into incentives to help young workers complete apprenticeships and training in fields like construction as older workers retire and threaten to constrain Canada’s building capacity.