Skilled trades need new digital skills: Conference Board

Ottawa – Tradespeople will need a range of new digital skills to keep pace with the future of work, suggests a new report by the Conference Boad of Canada.

The new paper, “Bridging Generational Divides: Advancing Digital Skills in Canada’s Apprenticeships and Skilled Trades Ecosystem,” by Andrew Bieler, looks at how Canadian apprenticeship training can adapt to the future of work.

Young people entering the trades are encountering classrooms and workplaces undergoing social and technological disruption. These changes are being exacerbated by outdated training and assessment models and by persistent structural barriers to digital upgrading of skills. This report looks at the barriers and ways to overcome them.

Among the highlights:

• Improving digital skills will be the most important factor in adapting Canada’s skilled trades to the future of work.
• Generational differences between younger and older workers are slowing the shift.
• Tradespeople will need seven core digital skills: technical, information management, digital communication, virtual collaboration, creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving in digital environments.

Read the full report.