Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, certified journeypersons showed historically low mobility rates, as incomes rose – particularly among construction trades.

Statistics Canada recently released earnings and mobility data pertaining to newly certified journeypersons across the country. Specifically, the study looked at those journeypersons who certified in 2018, and their work outcomes in 2019.

One of the key findings from the report is that those journeypersons certified in construction trades reported the highest median increases in overall earning in 2019.

The year-over-year increase in construction investment (+1.3%), employment (+1.8%) and houses under construction (+4.8%) likely contributed to employment income gains for industrial instrumentation and control technicians (+$7,140), roofers (+$6,800), and painter and decorators (+$4,680), all of which experienced growth in median earnings.

Journeypersons who certified as powerline technicians ($118,580), crane operators ($102,560), and industrial instrumentation and control technicians ($101,620) in 2018 had the highest overall median earnings in 2019, one year after certification. At the other end of the spectrum, estheticians ($21,390), hairstylists ($24,140) and landscape horticulturists ($33,930) earned the least.

The median employment income of journeypersons who certified in 2018 was highest in the territories ($83,700), Alberta ($74,870) and Saskatchewan ($68,390), and lowest in Prince Edward Island ($45,790), Quebec ($52,430) and New Brunswick ($56,470). The median income in Ontario was just over $60,000.

Although western and northern Canada continued to lead the country in median earnings, the gap narrowed from 2018, as the territories (-$1,660) and all three western provinces experienced declines in median employment income.

As many of the higher paying trades are construction-related, shifts in employment and investment in the sector quite likely impacted the median employment income of journeypersons working in a given province or territory in 2019, compared with the previous year. Alberta (-2.7%), Saskatchewan (-5.4%) and the territories (-0.3%) all experienced drops in construction employment in 2019, while Quebec (+7.2%) and the Atlantic region (+2.5%) experienced growth during the same period.

Construction investment followed a similar trend. Alberta (-9.2%) and Saskatchewan (-5.5%) had the largest year-over-year provincial declines compared with 2018, while at the same time Quebec (+8.2%) and the Atlantic region (+7.8%) increased.

The other key finding from the Statistics Canada report is that journeypersons who certified in 2018 were less likely than ever to move to another province or territory in 2019, one year after certification.

In 2019, 5.6% of journeypersons either lived or worked in a province or territory other than their jurisdiction of certification. This marks the lowest national mobility rate of journeypersons since the start of the data series in 2008, and a 0.9% decline from the previous lowest rate in 2017.

Alberta continued to be a hub of interprovincial mobility for certified journeypersons in 2019. One year after certification, over one-fifth (21.9%) of journeypersons who either worked or lived in a province other than their province of certification had moved to Alberta. However, at the same time, over one-third (36.6%) of all journeypersons who left their province of certification came from Alberta.

Alberta's struggling economic environment led more journeypersons to migrate out of the province than into the province for the third consecutive year. However, journeypersons who worked in Alberta one year after certifying experienced the highest median employment income ($74,870) of all provinces.

Statistics Canada cautions that all this data may be turned on its ear in next year’s report when it examines the first-year earnings and mobility experiences of those journeypersons who certified in 2019 and who were working in 2020 at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of course the pandemic led the provinces and territories to implement guidelines, restrictions and lockdowns that greatly impacted the ability of Canadians to register, certify, and work in the trades.

Recently published data showed that new apprenticeship registrations were down by over one-quarter (-28.5%) in 2020, and certifications fell by almost one-third (-32.7%).

Statistics Canada anticipates that the impact of the pandemic on certifications in apprenticeship programs, along with the restrictions on many trade industries and travel during the year, will affect the earnings and mobility of journeypersons in 2020.