N.S. needs tradespeople, yet NSCC has long waitlists for programs. What gives?

As Nova Scotia ramps up efforts to fill job vacancies within the skilled trades, one pathway to those jobs — training through the Nova Scotia Community College — is, in some cases, stymied by waitlists.

Almost all of the trades and transportation programs at the college, which include fields such as aircraft and automotive work, carpentry, electrical, plumbing and welding have waitlists that can stretch into years for some students. In many programs, the waitlists exist at all NSCC campuses across the province.

The programs with the longest waitlists, electrical construction and industrial and building systems technology (heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration) have a two-year wait for entry.

There are 750 new and waitlisted applicants for 250 seats for the electrical construction and industrial program that begins this fall. For the building systems technology program, there are 223 new and waitlisted applications for 18 available seats.

Andrew Lafford, vice-president academic at the NSCC, said the college is doing its best to meet the needs of both industry and students.

"We're doing as much as we can as quickly as we can," he said. "We're exhausting all of our assets, all of our capabilities to try to close that gap and not have students sitting on the waitlist for too long."

Need for trades

A new report released this month by BuildForce Canada, an organization that provides labour market information to the construction industry, says between retirements and increasing labour demands, the province will need to hire 15,000 workers by 2034.

The report says there will be growth in Nova Scotia's construction sector between now and 2034, driven primarily by new housing and renovations, but also by industrial, commercial and institutional buildings, such as hospitals and other projects. Residential construction employment is anticipated to increase almost continuously, rising 21 per cent above 2024 levels by 2034.

And, the need for workers is affecting projects now, the report says.

"The residential construction sector in Nova Scotia, and in Halifax Regional Municipality in particular, is contending with high levels of demand and immediate shortages of workers that are leading, in some cases, to projects being delayed, placed on indefinite hold, or even abandoned," the report says.

While new recruits will help offset the impact of retirements, those new workers don't have the skills and experience of retiring workers, which could compound skilled labour shortages, the report says.

Supply and demand 'a balancing game'

Lafford explained that meeting labour demands is not as simple as opening the floodgates to applicants in NSCC programs.

"We have to really play a balancing game," he said. "We just gotta be careful that … we're not graduating so many electricians that they're not getting jobs on the other end."

The college has taken steps to make education more accessible and expedited, Lafford said. It offers accelerated programs, as well as trades courses in the summer, evenings and weekends, and brings programs to communities that don't have NSCC campuses by using its mobile trade centre.

In some cases, the NSCC has added seats. For instance, the college added 260 seats in residential trades programs such as plumbing, carpentry, electrical and HVAC this January, and plans to add another 260 in the 2025-26 academic year.

Other options exist

Trent Soholt, the executive director of the Nova Scotia Construction Sector Council, said while learning through the Nova Scotia Community College is a great option, there are other ways to get into the trades.

"I think people are showing interest to get into the industry. We just, up until this point in time, didn't have alternate pathways to really capitalize on the interest and connect people to the job market."

One route is what Soholt calls direct entry, which is when someone who is interested in the trades makes contact with an employer who can register them as an apprentice and begin training them on the job.

Another option is called enhanced direct entry, whereby an organization such as the Nova Scotia Construction Sector Council partners with an employer to offer a short-term course of 10 to 16 weeks that is specifically tailored to that employer's needs. Participants in the course can then get a work placement with the employer and begin their apprenticeship journey.

Those programs are also in high demand, though. Soholt said the sector council is interviewing for a cable technician program and received 200 applications for 12 spots. A recent pipe trades course had 150 applications for 12 spots, and a carpentry program had 100 applications for 14 seats.

Soholt said anyone who is interested in working in a trade can contact the Nova Scotia Construction Sector Council for help connecting with programs or employers.

Provincial efforts

In an emailed statement from the Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration and Advanced Education, a spokesperson acknowledged the need for more skilled workers, adding the government is focused on "faster training so that apprentices are workplace ready quicker."

It pointed to several initiatives to recruit and retain workers in recent years, including working with the NSCC to open more seats in high-demand skilled trades programs and helping apprentices financially by waiving fees and creating more bursaries.

Earlier this month, the province also announced it's investing $10 million in the construction industry to help link Nova Scotians with careers in the skilled trades.

The money will be used to create the Cape Breton Trades Exhibition Centre, a learning facility for youth, community groups and apprentices to explore different trades. The funding will also be used to support direct-entry apprenticeship programs and career transitions for underemployed people, veterans and new Canadians to move into the trades.

"We continue to work with industry leaders and training partners to find new ways to expand access," the statement said. 

"We also need to make sure that we are focusing on training people for the trades that are needed now and in the future for Nova Scotia, making sure labour demand matches the training that is delivered."