Pomerleau survey highlights Canada’s conflicted feelings towards construction

Key Takeaways:

• A Pomerleau survey revealed that while 90% of Canadians view construction as essential to economic development, many still believe it is not a good career path to go down.
• With Canada needing to recruit 300,000 construction workers over the next decade to meet critical infrastructure needs across energy, housing, healthcare, and transportation, Pomerleau is calling for mobilization to tackle both labor shortages and societal challenges.
• Pomerleau has introduced initiatives like a state-of-the-art training center, unique internship programs, employee share ownership, and upcoming campaigns to attract women, youth, and Indigenous talent, aiming to modernize the industry and ensure long-term workforce sustainability.

The Whole Story:

A new survey shows that while 90% of Canadians see construction as vital to economic development, far less view it as a good career option.

The data comes from a public opinion survey conducted this summer by construction giant Pomerleau. As Canada faces a massive infrastructure boom and a looming shortage of 300,000 construction workers, the contractor is launching initiatives to modernize the industry, attract diverse talent, and meet the demands of the century’s biggest projects.

Faced with major societal challenges that will require a series of major construction projects, Pomerleau announced that it is launching an appeal for mobilization to tackle the biggest issues humanity faces. They explained that this “project of the century” will be needed to meet a wide range of needs in different sectors: energy and climate transition, rising housing needs, healthcare, education and transportation. In addition to carrying out these major projects, companies will be faced with the already significant challenge of construction labour shortages.

Mediocre perception

During the summer of 2024, Pomerleau conducted a major opinion survey, in conjunction with Léger, to gain a better understanding of the general public’s perceptions of the construction industry. Several findings emerge from the survey:

• 90% of respondents believe that construction is essential to economic development.
• 74% of respondents believe you need to be physically strong to work in construction.
• 64% of respondents think it’s still hard for women to work in construction.
• 56% of respondents would recommend working in the construction industry to their children or relatives.
• 55% of respondents believe the construction sector offers attractive prospects to young people.

Pomerleau stated that these findings highlight the public’s awareness of the construction industry’s leading role in building strong communities, but believe the public would benefit from learning more about modern developments in the industry as well as the full potential offered by construction trades.  

“We need to make sure construction trades become attractive career choices for as many people as possible. We need to restore the construction industry to its former glory. We have a responsibility to help people discover its most attractive features. Construction is an industry made up of passionate people who are determined to make a positive difference in the lives of communities. At the end of the day, society needs modern infrastructure such as housing, hospitals, schools and sustainable modes of transportation,” says Philippe Adam, Pomerleau’s CEO.

Here are some of the initiatives Pomerleau itself is implementing to address the problem.

Already implemented:

• PX3 – a state-of-the-art training centre
• An internship program to gain hands-on experience on worksites that is unique in Canada
• Incentives for the purchase of electric vehicles ($2,000 from Pomerleau) and a generous referral program
• International recruitment missions
• Défi sportif – bringing together nearly 1,000 employees from across the country, so they can raise funds for causes close to their hearts and also train with private coaches
• A program offering share ownership to all employees

To be implemented in 2025:

• A partnership with the Commission de la construction du Québec to launch campaigns promoting trades and raising awareness of healthy workplaces
• Have more than 30% of donations and sponsorships dedicated to initiatives aimed at increasing the number of women, young people and Indigenous communities in the industry, such as: Academos,The Atlantic Engineering Competition, Dalhousie Women in Engineering Society, a support Fund for the Groupe Génie au féminin de l’Université de Sherbrooke, Skills Ontario and Women’s Infrastructure Network.