A welder works at a new condo building under construction in downtown Vancouver, in a file photo. The Canadian Press/Jonathan Hayward
Posted on 11/06/2025 9:34:26 PM PST by SeekAndFind
At over 7 percent, the unemployment rate in Canada is the highest it has been in a decade. For those under 25, it surpasses 14 percent. This is a real challenge for young people at the beginning of their working lives. The usual rules for getting started on a promising career no longer seem to apply.
A welder works at a new condo building under construction in downtown Vancouver, in a file photo. The Canadian Press/Jonathan Hayward
A university degree does not open doors the way it used to. There are many more university graduates than there are openings that require this qualification, and this does not even consider the mismatch that exists between the fields of the vacant positions and those of the graduates.
The government has reacted to this sad situation by severely curtailing the number of temporary foreign workers (TFWs) allowed into Canada, presumably to save jobs for unemployed Canadians. It may not work. TFWs have been brought into Canada to fill jobs that, even in times of high unemployment, Canadians would not fill.
Agricultural workers are an example. Youth (and older workers) are reluctant to take seasonal jobs that require long hours of demanding physical labour outdoors for the rates of pay that our food-producing sector can afford.
TFWs also play a big role in entry-level service jobs, another area that is hard to fill with Canadians, especially if they have a university degree. Finding Canadians for these jobs is particularly acute in smaller centres and more remote locations.
Not only are the jobs left unfilled by reducing TFWs unattractive to most Canadians, but many of the more attractive jobs are now, or soon will be, replaced by AI. Older workers will recall how swathes of lower-level white-collar jobs, such as secretaries and clerks, were eliminated by the introduction of computers.
Now the work of higher-level positions can be done by AI. This includes junior executives, many mid-level management positions, and any position that has the word agent or broker in the title—areas where many aspiring leaders got their start. Now it is even harder to find any openings.
There are still good jobs in desirable locations that pay well, where vacancies tend to exceed job seekers and which will be difficult or impossible for AI to replace. Most Canadians do not even consider these opportunities or are barely aware of them.
The people needed now and into the future are trades workers, technicians, and technologists. Also needed are people who can provide a level of human contact that machines cannot offer in medicine and other areas.
Use the phrase “hands-on” to determine which occupations are safe from an AI takeover. AI cannot fix a leaky pipe or wire a new building. It cannot deliver a baby.
Nor can AI create and maintain the physical underpinnings of our 21st-century world. For this, technicians and technologists are required. Right now, there are openings for technicians and technologists in engineering at all levels and also in design, maintenance, inspection, project management, and other fields.
Such in-demand occupations are regulated in B.C. by the Association of Technicians and Technologists of B.C. Current job openings are listed here. Institutes of technology and many universities and colleges offer the training that would lead to positions like these. Most courses take two years, less than a university degree. Many technician and technology positions offer upward mobility into areas like management or professional engineering.
For those who prefer to deal with people, we will still need doctors, nurses, and other health professionals even as AI takes over the more tedious administrative aspects of that work. Counsellors and advisors will still be needed, but they will need to have both excellent people skills and detailed expertise in fields like financial planning, employment, and others. The more routine support and advice can and will be provided by AI.
Even in hands-on occupations, practitioners will still have to keep up to date with AI and other developing systems. These current and future developments will be like the telephone—useful and necessary in whatever we do. But they will also free us from the tedious administrative requirements that until now were part of just about every job.
We now find ourselves in an uncertain economy with high and rising unemployment. What used to be good ways to find a job or establish a career are no longer working, and AI-related elimination looms over many positions. But there are still many hands-on occupations that AI cannot fill and that offer good jobs now and excellent career prospects to those willing to consider them.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.
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I work in that area - and even if you are extremely smart, it is hard. This area has rapid change, almost daily new technology updates and ecosystems. And you not only need the technical knowledge (and to keep it updated) but business knowledge.
It’s extremely hard to get in and to stay in this field. But it does pay for the time you are in (in money and time)
CAD Design at GM is now called “CAD Execution”...Siemens NX CAD is their primary CAD tool in product development and manufacturing automation systems. How much AI gets involved I have no idea.
< truth >
Wow, most of these people pushing the trades instead of college have never hammered a nail, even once. I worked construction for years to pay for college. There was never AC or heat at the job sites. Eating at the roach coach. Boring, tedious and often dangerous work. Underpaid. Shower after work. Too tired to “party”. No social status. To me it sucks. I graduated college and never looked back.
The blue collar life is not EASY. In fact it sucks doorknobs.
< /truth >
Who cares Gump.
My Grandfather told me to get a trade right out of High school.
I became a machinist with a medical manufacturer . I worked for the same family owed business for 45 years setting up and managing the Turning department for 30 years. A trade is sound advice. I don’t regret one thing.
Obviously, you picked the wrong trade and I’m sure the satisfaction you get from your desk job, is overwhelming knowing how much you help your fellow man. Good for you.
that’s only valid until fedgov imports the hundreds of millions of manual labor from overseas to lower the prices here.
exactly what happened to STEM
Both legal and illegal immigration are used as weapons to suppress the middle class. That is obvious.
Nephew's son had the good fortune of his high school offering an after school program in welding in his junior and senior years.
He then went on to the Hobart Institute of Welding Technology, a nine month program. After graduation, the job offers came pouring in...
Shhh—don’t tell accountants that.
If you have half a brain, it’s great work, and pays well.
__________________________
The shift to trades has just become even more logical with the entry of AI. Trades that require creating things with mind and hands such as installing heating and air conditioning systems, electrically wiring a home, custom building homes, etc., will be around for a long time and they pay well. My son is in HVAC and busy as hell making good money.
Y’all might not get dirty with that college degree, but where will you be at 30?
It’s no shame to go to a real tech school. You go there, learn a real job, you are at a school, you are putting in your hours and finish with an apprenticeship, with hours accrued toward your journeyman level.
Definitely better than just school, a piece of paper, and no experience, right?
(I did the other way, the draft was in operation. Joined USAF, made warehouse super, crossed to aircraft radar, and had good lot of jobs from that.)
We don’t worry about you in the trades. You don’t have half a brain.
What AI marcus doink, SFB?
If you’re half decent in the trades, they’ll tackle you to get you to work for them.
I got pulled over by a retired sheriff to do some work for him. We’re still friends.
(With apologies to the fishermen what formulated that meme)
—
Accepted
Gump,
it doesn’t take brains to sweat pipes together or hang sheet metal. The glamorization of blue collar labor is a bit over the top .
Go here for a possible scholarship in the traditional trades as well as hiring opportunities and training.
https://jobs.mikeroweworks.org/
I have to read a lot.
I've done database management, computers and interior renovation and construction.
You're a dumbass who couldn't get a job with the blue-collar people I've worked with if you tried. You sound like a dumb, lazy jerk.
Did Snapageddon impact you a lot, you lazy jerk?
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