RESPONSE TO QUESTIONNAIRES

This section of the report will present a summary of responses to the questionnaires* on a question by question basis. The first question is dealt with by statistics; obtained in large part from the Department of Employment & Immigration, Training Branch, Information Department, Ottawa, and supplemented with data from several CEIC regional offices. Questions 4-11 were seen to deal with CEIC national policy and as such were answered on behalf of CEIC by Dr. Louise Bourgault, Director General of Training, Ottawa.** These questions were also discussed by some CEIC regional personnel, and the "Education ministries that replied to our questionnaire.

1. HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE BEEN REFERRED TO TRAINING UNDER THE NATIONAL TRAINING ACT IN YOUR REGION? WHAT IS THE BREAKDOWN BY SEX, AGE (UNDER/OVER 25), AND TRAINING TYPES?

The statistics on the following pages include a comparison of male and female "trainee starts" in both institutional and industrial training, for the fiscal years 1981-82 and 1982-83, plus partial figures for 1983-84. The annual national totals of male and female trainee starts are followed by a province by province breakdown of these national statistics.

Although the original data included a breakdown by age (over/under 25 years old) for women trainees, it was decided that this information gave very little insight into the age profile of women trainees, and that such a profile could not be obtained without a great deal more intensive statistical research. It was therefore decided that the age breakdown should be omitted for the present.

Both the number of women trainees and the proportion of women trainees have declined in all areas of Institutional and Industrial Training. In Institutional Training programs the total enrolment has increased slightly from 1981-82 to 1982-83. However, the participation rate for women trainees has declined from 29.1% in 1981-82 to 25.7% in 1982-83.

In Industrial Training there has been a decline in overall numbers of trainees in every category. As well, the numbers of women trainees have declined from 27.1% in 1981-82 to 22.7% in 1982-83. Furthermore, the number of Women in Non-Traditional Occupations (WINTO) trainees has declined in every province from 1981-82 to 1982-83.

These declines in female participation rates, and the overall decline in enrolment in the Industrial Training sector of the National Training Act, seem to reflect the "bottoming out" of the economy last winter. CEIC sources described the drop in numbers of trainees in the industrial sector as a "reduced level of activity... due to adverse economic conditions in the private sector". In Manitoba, for example, the number of WINTO trainees fluctuated as follows:

The decline in the number of trainees in the private sector over the 1982-83 winter has been generally ascribed to

The last item on the list - restrictions to certain designated occupations - raises a very interesting question about the National Training Act: if the emphasis of the new act is on training that is more closely linked to job market expectations (through identification of critical trades and skills), how does this list of designated occupations restrict employers?

Most sources at CEIC expressed the belief that the worst was over as far as the economy was concerned, and it was generally agreed that total training enrolments, and rates of female participation, would be again rising slowly.

* See Appendix B for full text of questionnaires
** See Appendix C for full text of L. Bourgault's letter