b"COVERThe CCA is asking the federal govern- Canada needs to attractwas9,389,000in2016,justshyofnine ment to fund 1,700 student placements overmillion more than women.fouryearsinconstructionwork-integrated167,739 new apprenticesEvenwiththosenumbersdwindling, (WIL) programs across Canada. Increasingthough, there are organizations in the U.S. fundingforcareerandtechnicaltrainingover the next five years inthatrecognizetheimportanceofhaving programs will help promote the skilled tradeswomen on the jobsite, and it appears that the to underrepresented groups and boost the supply of qualified workers, says Van Buren. order to keep pace withnumber of women enrolling in construction Slowlybutsurely,eachprovinceiscourses is on the rise.installingprogramsandinitiativestohelpcurrent demand, accordingAlthough there is a gender pay gap in attract women to the trades fold, and keepthe U.S.women in the U.S. earn 81.1 them there.to a report by Statisticsper cent of what men earn, on averagein Our U.S. neighbours the construction industry that gap narrows The struggle to engage female tradespeople inCanada and the Canadianconsiderably, with women earning approxi-the U.S. is comparable to the one in Canada,mately 95.7 per cent of what men make. and may even be more of a challenge. Apprenticeship Forum. Moskalhassomefinaladvicefor AccordingtotheBureauofLaboremployers in the trades: Don't hire just one Statistics,in2015only1.3percentofwoman, hire three, four or five and watch theentireU.S.constructionworkforceactually shrank, moving from 1,079,000 inyourquality,craftsmanship,attendance, were women, andas of 2016 the number of2005 to 939,000 in 2016. Comparably, thepunctuality,clientsatisfactionandoverall women in the construction industry sectornumber of men in the construction sectorprofessional image increase ten-fold.16lROOFINGBC l SUMMER 2019"