Federal budget 2014: New jobs measures bring hope

Stephen McCrum doesn’t have to go very far from home to appreciate the importance of skills training and job readiness.

McCrum, vice-president of business development at the staffing and recruiting firm Randstad Canada, has two teenage boys of his own. Like any good dad, he puts a lot of thought and energy into his kids’ future and worries about the kinds of opportunities they’ll have when they leave school for the workforce.

The unemployment rate among young people in Canada is 13.9 per cent, nearly twice the national average (7 per cent).

So it was with those two qualifications, parent and professional, he paid close attention to the unveiling of the budget in Parliament on Tuesday and what it had to say about the labour market and helping people get the training they need.

“I am a massive fan of internships programs that put people coming out of school in situations where they can get some hands-on experience,” McCrum said.

“When we invest in those kinds of programs, this is how we will beat the problem.”

The “problem” McCrum is referring to is the big -- and getting bigger – skills gap in Canada. Employers in a variety of fields, including IT, finance, engineering and the trades, are already scrambling to find workers with the right qualifications and experience to do the jobs on hand.

That stress of that situation is only expected to grow worse as new mega-projects come on line, particularly in the Western provinces.

Measures to better match Canadians with available jobs, while addressing the skills shortage via beefed-up training programs, was a key theme of Tuesday's budget.

In particular, the government acknowledged the challenges faced by young graduates in getting the critical work experience they need to get ahead, setting aside $40 million toward supporting up to 3,000 internships in high-demand fields.

There is also a planned expansion of the Canada Student Loans Program providing, among other tools, apprentices in the Red Seal trades access to more than $100 million in interest-free loans every year to help them pay for their training.

Another $75 million over three years will go towards assisting unemployed older workers find jobs, with more training and skills-matching programs announced in support of aboriginals, immigrants and people with disabilities.

As for that contentious Canada Jobs Grant, unveiled last year, the federal budget made it clear Ottawa intends the training program to go ahead as of April 1, with or without co-operation from the provinces and territories.

The proposed fund aims to boost the number of skilled workers in the country through a training grant of up to $15,000, divided equally among Ottawa, the provinces and employers. Many of the provincial and territorial leaders have balked at its enforcement, saying it takes money away from existing training programs aimed at unemployed and under-employed Canadians. Employment Minister Jason Kenney recently offered to cover the provincial portion of grant, upping the feds' share to $10,000.

The government will also renegotiate the $1.95 billion-a-year Labour Market Development Agreements to better match job training with labour market demands. The funds are specifically designed to support workers across Canada who qualify for employment insurance.

McCrum said employers are counting on government support to find solutions to the growing skills shortage, before it becomes a crisis.

What he read in the budget, so far, he likes.

But, he added, “The devil is in the details.”

A recent study by Randstad Canada and Ipsos-Reid found that one-third of Canadians feel the government needs to invest more in skills training for unemployed and underemployed workers to properly address the skills shortage, with one in five respondents feeling that proper implementation and effective running of the Canada Job Grant program and other workforce-related programs announced in 2013 is crucial in addressing the issue.