- The incentives recommended by survey participants to increase their own investments in
skills training indicate some of the constraints they face in the provision of in-house
training – high cost, lack of in-house expertise, the general nature of external training
programs, and the need for stronger partnerships with schools and colleges.
- Training costs are mounting as both technologies and operating procedures within companies
become more complex.
- Many smaller companies are not prepared to devote the personnel or the resources to support
in-house training, apprenticeships, and cooperative programs.
- More specialized skills requirements are forcing smaller companies in particular to
hire professionals or consultants rather than developing the skills of their own
workforce.
- Like manufacturing, trades training and apprenticeships are perceived as vocational
paths leading to manual, uninteresting, low-paying jobs.
- The lack of trades training in high schools means that more basic training requirements
are being passed to industry.
- There are problems with respect to the structure of apprenticeship programs. Regulations
are out of date. Governments are not addressing the issue. Bigger companies are doing
their own training, but not to provincial apprenticeship regulations.
- High training costs associated with advanced manufacturing technologies mean that people
with skills in these areas are extremely difficult to find either within industry or from
the educational system.
