Jobs minister urges youth to pursue skilled trades despite generational stigma

OTTAWA — Canada must break the stigma around careers in the skilled trades if the Liberals want to achieve their infrastructure and homebuilding agenda, federal Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu said on Monday.

Hajdu said that when she was growing up in Thunder Bay, Ont., students who attended a skilled trades high school in the city were “deeply stigmatized” by their choice.

“At that time, there was a push … that the true path to success and to status was to gain a university degree. And there was a discouragement of pursuing the skilled trades,” she told education workers and reporters at the University of Ottawa.

Hajdu said that stigma was misguided, as many students pursuing careers in the trades can be just as successful, if not more, than those studying at university or other post-secondary institutions.

France Daviault, CEO of the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum, said in an email to The Canadian Press on Monday that the stigma around the trades still exists, though it’s “slowly shifting.”

She said Canadian society has promoted a “narrow definition” of success that discounts hands-on careers, and that messaging has spread through schools, families and career guidance systems.

“The good news is that perceptions are changing. As labour shortages become more visible and as more people see the impact and earning potential of these careers, we’re starting to see a shift toward valuing trades as a first-choice career — not a fallback,” Daviault said.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said last week it’s a “great time” for youth to get into the trades as the Liberals plan long-term investments in housing and infrastructure.

“In the coming years, there will be a huge number of skilled trade jobs, and these are quality jobs, well-paid jobs, honourable jobs, and I urge young people to consider a pathway into the skilled trades,” Hajdu said Monday.

“The skilled trades are essential to the agenda of Canada.”

MP Garnett Genuis, the Conservative jobs critic, accused the Liberals of hypocrisy by promoting the skilled trades after their fall budget included plans to restrict the Canada Student Grant program to students at public institutions.

He said that would box out the private vocational schools where students can learn skilled trades.

“It is quite dissonant that the minister is saying some of the right things about addressing stigma around particular careers, but her government is putting forward new policy that goes precisely in the opposite direction,” Genuis said in an interview Monday.

Hajdu was at the University of Ottawa to tout government efforts to boost employment prospects for students in what’s been a tough job market for young workers.

Statistics Canada said last week the unemployment rate for youth aged 15 to 24 sat at 13.8 per cent in March, down somewhat from a recent high of 14.6 per cent recorded in September 2025.

Hajdu said the employment trend is “deeply concerning” as “prolonged unemployment as a young person can really inhibit their career trajectory, but also their earning potential over the course of their life.”

An October 2025 report from the Labour Market Information Council noted that recent graduates with a bachelor’s degree or higher have long had an easier time finding work out of school than those with college diplomas or apprenticeship certificates.

But report authors Pete Nelson and Boxi Yang cited data from Statistics Canada showing that pattern has flipped in recent years.

Nelson and Yang pointed out that Canada is producing a growing number of university grads as vacancies for positions with degree requirements are drying up. That puts into question post-secondary institutions’ efforts to shepherd students toward knowledge-based jobs, they said.

“Degrees still confer long-term benefits. But they no longer guarantee a smooth entry into the workforce,” the report read.

Nelson and Yang suggested that the rise of artificial intelligence replacing entry-level tasks could be a factor in the shift. Roles in health care or the trades are harder to automate, they noted.

The authors concluded that the school-to-work pipeline is now more complex and students need educations that align better with the needs of the market.

Hajdu said Monday the federal government is working with a number of sectors to ensure training and education for youth is tailored to the needs of those industries, to help better integrate young workers into the labour market.

She also said the federal government is looking into incentives to help young workers complete apprenticeships and training in fields like construction as retirements among older workers threaten to constrain Canada’s building capacity.

Genuis said Monday the Liberals are starting to parrot some of the ideas the Conservatives proposed in the fall about tying more generous federal student grants to fields seeing the most demand for labour.

Daviault said getting an apprenticeship to completion is “one of the biggest challenges in our system.” Apprentices can face financial obstacles during in-school training periods, and some trainees — including women and Indigenous apprentices — can face workplace culture barriers.

She suggested the federal government could boost training funding for provinces, territories and employers alongside income supports for apprentices to help improve completion rates.

Ottawa also has to get the message across to students and their parents about the pathways to viable careers in the trades, Daviault said.

“Ultimately, this is about more than workforce development. It’s about building a strong, resilient economy — and creating opportunities for people to find meaningful, well-paying careers,” she said.

In addition to boosts for student grants and loans, Hajdu announced Monday that Ottawa will open up applications next week for 100,000 positions through the Canada Summer Jobs program for this year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 13, 2026.

Craig Lord, The Canadian Press