july 2009 issue
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News
New Approaches Needed
A national study identifies the challenges ahead in the engineering and technology labour market
BY GEORGE LEE
The PEGG
Canada’s engineers, technologists and technicians should re-examine their approach to applicants educated outside the country, address the low percentage of women in their ranks and improve their professional development requirements, says a new national study. The thoughts are included in eight final recommendations arising from the two-year Engineering and Technology Labour Market Study, a project of Engineers Canada and the Canadian Council of Technicians and Technologists.
The study generated nine reports, not including the final report. It took into account existing and new research, and included a survey that generated nearly 15,600 responses. A 32-person steering committee supported the study, with a membership drawn from industry, professional associations, and universities and colleges, as well as organizations that help integrate internationally educated engineering and technology professionals.
Universities and colleges will face enrolment drops unless they react to shifting demographics, says the report. It cautions against reducing admission standards.
Such a trend would “undermine the reputation of Canadian engineering and technology professionals and, in the long run, undermine Canadian competitiveness. It is essential to avoid this.”
Although the research was conducted before the global recession fully took hold, there’s value in the study’s findings, said Len Shrimpton, P.Eng., APEGGA Director, Internal Affairs.
“The recommendations are sound, to my eye, in the way they relate to the long-term relevancy of the professions in a changing labour market,” said Mr. Shrimpton, who co-authored an unrelated APEGGA labour market assessment that looks ahead to 2016. “The current situation won’t be around forever. It seems the trends identified are solid, as we move beyond our current economic problems.”
The study’s recommendations fall under four themes. These are
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rethinking professional formation
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ensuring supply by addressing gender imbalance
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strengthening professionalism
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ongoing monitoring of the engineering and technology labour market.
Demographic changes are threatening the supply of skilled labour for engineering and technology, the study says. Over the past decade, economic growth in Canada — fuelled first by information and communications
technology, and then by resource development and construction — has favoured the occupations.
Between 1997 and 2008, employment grew by 45 per cent in engineering and engineering technology. In all other occupations, growth was 24 per cent.
“In the absence of measures to change the acute and persistent gender imbalance in admissions, demographic trends will make it difficult to ensure the long-term supply of engineering and technology graduates,” says the report.
Internationally educated engineers and technologists have been drawn upon heavily in recent years. “Immigration is reshaping the profile of the engineering and technology workforce. The challenge of integrating internationally educated professionals in the Canadian labour market was seriously underestimated,” says the report.
Statistics Canada says the 15-19 age cohort will peak this year at about 2.2 million then begin to fall. By 2017, it will have dropped to under two million people.
Also in the mix is a skills gap between what entrants have and the labour market needs. The gap is not on the technical end, though, the study says. The most oft-cited deficiencies are in
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written and oral communications
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experience administering contracts
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project management
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teamwork
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business-case analysis
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communication of technical issues to non-technical colleagues.
Said Mr. Shrimpton: “If you’re looking for good news in all this, I suppose it’s that APEGGA and Alberta are already addressing many of the shortcomings and areas of concern identified in the study.
“Our professional development and mentoring are largely focused on non-technical areas. Project management, for example, has been a mainstay of the APEGGA PD program for years.”
APEGGA’s work on Aboriginal awareness and mentoring, and on integrating internationally educated graduates, “stands up to anything being done elsewhere in the country,” said Mr. Shrimpton.
“Alberta universities are progressive in their approaches to curriculum and enrolments,” he said. “And the gender gap — though still large — is not as pronounced in Alberta as it is in Canada as a whole.”
Much needs to be done here and across the country, he emphasized. “But we’re taking a lot of steps in the right direction.”
More Info
Engineering and Technology
Labour Market Study
www.engineerscanada.ca
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