StatsCan releases apprenticeship numbers for 2012

Statistics Canada‘s report on apprenticeship training programs for 2012 states that programs across Canada received 104,280 new registrations and reinstatements in 2012. The increase of 6.8 per cent from 2011 marks the highest number of new registrations and reinstatements (individuals who were reinstated in 2012 after a year or more of absence) since the beginning of the economic downturn in 2008.

Total registrations in apprenticeship training programs across Canada increased 4.3 per cent from 2011 to 444,672 in 2012.

New registrations in Red Seal trades were up 6.8 per cent, but the number remained below 2008 levels. New registrations in non-Red Seal trades were up 11.5 per cent from 2011. In 2012, 56,913 certificates were awarded to both apprentices and trade qualifiers/challengers, up 2.7 per cent from 2011. Of those, 41,481 were granted to apprentices who completed their training, up 0.8 per cent from 2011. This annual growth was much lower than the increases registered over the previous two years.

In 2012, certificates awarded to trade qualifiers/challengers increased for the first time since 2008, up 8.2 per cent from the previous year to 15,429.

Less than half (19,701) of the apprentice certificates awarded were Red Seal certificates. For the first time since 2008, the number of apprentice certificates with Red Seal endorsements (-2.6 per cent) declined while the number of certificates for trade qualifiers/challengers with Red Seal endorsement (+5.2 per cent) increased.

Among the top 10 Red Seal trades, the construction electrician trade recorded the largest number of new registrations, up 10.9 per cent from 2011 to 9,714 in 2012, and surpassed the carpenter trade, which was down 13.2 per cent to 7,881. The number of new registrations in the construction electrician trade has increased every year since the end of the economic downturn. The steamfitter/pipefitter trade (+45.7 per cent) posted the largest annual increase in new registrations in 2012, followed by the welder trade (+41.7 per cent), where the number of new registrations exceed those recorded in 2008.