The skilled trades labour shortage has a gender dimension
The skilled trades labour shortage has a gender dimension
Part 1 of a 2-part series
It’s a story that’s both familiar and urgent: we don’t have enough skilled tradespeople, and the shortfall is getting bigger. An aging workforce, long-standing labour shortages, and major planned infrastructure projects mean Canada needs hundreds of thousands of new skilled workers over the next few years. Welding sits right in the centre of this challenge. It’s a high-skill, high-demand trade that underpins construction, manufacturing, energy, transportation, energy, and emerging sectors tied to the green economy.
When we look closely at who makes up the welding workforce -- and how people enter and stay in the trade -- it’s clear that we’re leaving too much potential untapped.
The gender imbalance
Welding has long been a male-dominated profession. In Canada, men make up roughly 96% of the welding workforce, while women account for less than 4%. That number has fluctuated over the past 10 years but has inched upward as more women are entering the skilled trades than in the past. Nationally, women now make up just over 7.3% of skilled trades workers, compared to 5.9% when tracking began in 1987. (Source: Statistics Canada. Table 14-10-0416-02 Proportion of women and men employed in occupations, annual)
Despite these gains, progress has been slow and representation remains uneven, especially in trades like welding that are seen as physically demanding or difficult for women to access. The result is a workforce that doesn’t reflect the full range of talent available to it.
We hear countless stories of women who fell in love with welding the first time they tried it. Cassie Zinga, who was a guest on the CWB Association podcast when she was an apprentice metal fabricator, is just one example. She reached out to Alicia Butty, an influencer known as Canadian Welder Girl, and was invited to come by Alicia’s shop to explore. “I was just amazed -- I got to go to her shop and make a metal rose. It was the first time I had touched a welder. I was on a high for the rest of the day. I was like, I’m going to apply to welding school, this is amazing!”
Passion isn’t the problem, and there are women welders out there who are happy to be mentors. So, what’s going on?
Unequal earnings
The gender pay gap is part of the picture. In Canada in 2024, women in the workforce earned 87 cents for every dollar earned by a man. (Source: Statistics Canada, “Facts, stats, and impact: Gender equality). For women in the welding workforce, the gap is larger. The average wage per hour for men is $32.19; for women, it's $26.14. (Source: Statistics Canada, cited in CWB Industry Report 2024) That means that women welders earn approximately 81 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts.
These differences are influenced by many factors, such as job type, seniority, hours worked, and access to higher-paying roles. But lower earnings mean it’s less viable for women to make welding a long-term career choice.
For any worker, but particularly for women who may already be navigating caregiving responsibilities or financial constraints, wage gaps can push them out of the trade altogether. Over time, that attrition compounds the workforce shortage the industry is already struggling to solve.
The apprenticeship on-ramp
Canada is projected to need roughly 222,000 new journeypersons over the next five years to meet demand across skilled trades (Source: Supporting Equity in Trades, Canadian Apprenticeship Forum). Apprenticeship is central to keeping the workforce pipeline flowing. However, while registrations rebounded after the pandemic, completions have not kept pace. Fewer apprentices are finishing within the expected program timeframe, and a significant share discontinue their programs entirely.
Completion rates across Red Seal trades have declined over the past decade. Data from the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum’s 2024 National Apprenticeship Report indicate that welding completion rates showed the most significant decline of the top 15 Red Seal trades. Between the 2010-2015 and 2016-2022 time periods, completions dropped by 15 percentage points (from 59% to 44%). The CAF flagged welding as one of the trades “at risk,” meaning projected completions are not expected to meet future demand. (Source: Canadian Apprenticeship Forum, in the CWB Group’s 2025 Welding Post-Secondary Education & Apprenticeship report)
In 2023, the number of female apprentice registrations in welding programs hit a record high of 582, a significant increase from just 69 at the start of the 21st century. Completion rates, however, were low, at only 105. (Source: Statistics Canada, in the CWB Group’s 2025 Welding Post-Secondary Education & Apprenticeship report)
A number of factors can deter an apprentice from completing their program, including financial pressures, irregular work hours, limited access to mentorship, workplace culture, travel requirements, and rigid training structures. For women entering male-dominated environments, these challenges can be amplified.
It’s not that women are less committed or capable. There are structural issues at play. Apprenticeship systems were largely designed around a traditional model of work (that is, a model for men) that assumes uninterrupted employment, geographic mobility, and minimal caregiving responsibilities. The system wasn’t made to help women experiencing these barriers.
The role employers can play
These structural barriers persist beyond apprenticeship and into employment. Workplace culture, travel expectations, unpredictable schedules, and limited pathways into leadership can all impact whether women advance or even remain in their careers. This is where employers hold the greatest influence and can have meaningful impact.
Structured mentorship programs at the workplace help women build up informal networks and support psychological safety. Assigning trained mentors, matching women with other women mentors, or scheduling mentorship check-ins at apprenticeship milestones can give women guidance and advocacy beyond the technical aspects of their jobs.
Flexibility and predictability also support career satisfaction and progression for women. Employers can take small actions that help women as well as men balance commuting, caregiving, or other responsibilities. Things like providing advance notice of shift changes or offering flexible shift swaps can go a long way.
Building inclusive job sites makes women feel welcome and valued. Employers can train supervisors on inclusive leadership, establish anti-harassment protocols and reporting procedures, and address subtle exclusionary practices (such as assigning less technical tasks to women).
Women are more likely to stay in a job if they see other women getting promotions or high-value assignments. Employers can help by highlighting women who have advanced to supervisory or leadership roles, and provide leadership development early on in employment. Transparent career and wage progression ladders mean women can see a path to growth.
While it’s not realistic to expect employers to raise female employees’ pay immediately, they can enact systems that help to address the gender pay gap. Practical actions, like making pay bands transparent and standardizing the promotion pathway is helpful for all employees. But reflecting on who gets overtime or specialized training or who gets access to lucrative assignments can uncover inequities that affect earnings -- something that employers can change.
Meeting Canada’s future workforce needs
Supporting women to enter and stay in welding will help build workforce resilience in the face of a skilled worker shortage. When more women complete apprenticeships, remain in the trade, and advance into leadership roles, the entire industry benefits. Inclusion becomes a critical strategy that drives Canada’s overall productivity and fosters the next generation of workers.
In Part 2 of this series, we’ll look at how the CWB Group is approaching this challenge -- through programs that support women entering welding and through internal policies, leadership practices, and cultural commitments.