Metro-Can Construction

The construction industry is one of our economy's most exciting and dynamic drivers, shaping our city skylines, creating and enhancing how we interact with neighborhoods, and redefining how we live our day-to-day lives. It is, therefore, no surprise that technology is heavily intertwined with our industry, offering solutions to further the promise of three-dimensional, interactive design, longer-lasting materials, and building with a higher level of accuracy and safety than ever before. 

Industry magazines and social media platforms are full of sexy ads or short videos featuring leading-edge design tools and building materials to create the structures within which we live, work and recreate. With stunning photography or incredible drone video footage, the marketing media is inspiring and stimulates our minds like never before. And while investments in design technology and high-level manufacturing add value to the architecture surrounding us, the need for skilled people to build the things we create cannot be ignored. We need to pay more attention to the declining availability of quality workers and the mentors that lead them to keep up with the feverish pace of our technological progress. 

So how did we get here? Why are trade contractors increasingly at a loss for skilled people in the field? Are we doing enough to promote training for skilled labour to do what we do? Are there enough incentives to attract new employees to the trades? Who should be leading that charge? The labour challenge has become more apparent in the past dozen years or so, and all indications are that it is likely to get worse before it gets better.

We’ve known for a long time that the biggest demographic influencers of the industry and most others in North America over the past 70+ years have been the ‘Baby Boomer generation. This massive influx of post-war humans has affected every aspect of our society, from swing sets to schools and infrastructure. 

As this generation matured, the baby boomers became our entrepreneurs, politicians, and business leaders. The trends of this influential demographic have shaped every industry. 

To this point, the rate of change within this important economic driving force has been somewhat predictable, allowing time for markets and industry to adjust and react to pave the road ahead of them. But as we are now witnessing, this group is reaching retirement age, and their influence is beginning to shift out of our industry and into retirement, leaving the opportunity for younger generations to step into the space the boomers left behind. This also means we’re losing experienced mentors, and experience is critical to how we construct our buildings skillfully and safely. 

This problem is not unique to the construction industry. Auto manufacturing is also clamoring for skilled workers for their assembly plants as technology changes and new spin-off industries emerge.