Employers, individuals and unions perceive the cost of apprenticeship as another major barrier. For some employers, particularly in small businesses, it is unclear whether the benefits of apprenticeship outweigh the costs, and the cost of apprentice supervision and wages is a particular concern.
Labour representatives noted that many apprentices in their twenties or older face financial and family pressures, forcing some to drop out. For apprentices, the cost of tools, tuition fees, and the income interruption encountered during required periods of technical training all add up to a substantial financial burden. Women face additional childcare costs, while Aboriginal people in remote communities encounter both the financial and psychological costs of moving away from home for classroom training. Unions bear costs when they subsidize members’ training expenses or manage training trust funds and trade schools.
During economic downturns, reduced demand in overall work can lead to fewer opportunities for apprentices or, worse, to an interruption in or termination of an apprenticeship. Some employers noted that seniority provisions in collective agreements may interfere with their ability to manage apprenticeship—and training programs generally—and can interrupt apprenticeship. These factors may make it difficult for apprentices to find employers, and pose a particular barrier for Aboriginal people and others in rural and remote communities. For labour respondents, in particular, a lack of job opportunities for apprentices was a key concern.
The inadequacy of provincial and territorial apprenticeship resources was identified as another generic barrier. For some, this inadequacy has resulted in a lack of enforcement of apprenticeship standards and regulations; for others, it has meant that activities related to promoting apprenticeship and recruiting participants have been somewhat neglected. Along the same lines, provincial education and training-system representatives pointed to the relative lack of funding for apprenticeship training as the most important barrier preventing these representatives from fulfilling their apprenticeship role. Similar resource constraints inhibited the ability of communities and community agencies to support the apprenticeships of members of particular groups, such as Aboriginal people, immigrants, women and visible minorities.
Other barriers affected members of specific equity groups. For immigrants, difficulty entering and advancing in apprenticeships, and the lack of tools to assess and recognize prior learning, all point to difficulties in having their skills and credentials recognized. A lack of counselling and access to trade-specific information before they arrive in Canada added to the difficulties that immigrants experience. For Aboriginal people who may have worked in a trade without receiving formal recognition, an absence of prior-learning assessment resources may pose a barrier to entering formal apprenticeships.
Employers, as well as some labour and Aboriginal spokespersons, expressed strong concerns about the personal attributes and characteristics of many apprenticeship candidates. Other respondents agreed that young people may lack the proper academic preparation at the high-school level and, consequently, these youths bring inadequate essential skills, including mathematics and literacy, to their apprenticeship training. These skills barriers were often cited with respect to Aboriginal people. Some would-be apprentices may also lack self-esteem, confidence and the network of contacts required to approach employers. For immigrants, barriers include a lack of language and literacy skills, and little familiarity with equipment and materials used locally. Employers may also lack systematic assessment tools to evaluate would-be apprentices’ attitudes, aptitudes and general “fit” in a specific trade.