New approach needed to help boost apprenticeship completion rates
Vaughan, Ont., June 18, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The current apprenticeship system is flawed, with the number of workers who complete training and receiving certification on the decline, so we need to look beyond traditional approaches and redesign the system, says RESCON president Richard Lyall.
“Canada should look to behavioural science to significantly boost apprenticeship recruitment and completion rates in the skilled construction trades,” he says. “By embracing behavioural science, we can achieve better training outcomes and improve how youth view the skilled construction trades.”
Lyall was responding to an independent new report prepared for the Residential Construction Council of Ontario (RESCON). The report, Are We Ready to Build Canada? A Behavioural Analysis of Canada’s Construction Talent Pipeline and Skills Training Policy, was authored by Nathaniel Barr, professor of creativity and senior advisor, innovation at Sheridan College; Michael McNamara, professor of creativity and director of the Community Ideas Factory at Sheridan; and James K. Stewart, economist and a senior fellow at the C.D. Howe Institute.
The authors examined the apprenticeship journey through a behavioural lens to identify barriers to recruitment, challenges within training, and issues affecting retention. They maintain that policy and program design must better reflect the human factors influencing training outcomes in the years ahead.
Improved outcomes and a more skilled workforce are critical to the success of Canada’s evolving economic landscape — shaped by tariffs and other adverse U.S. policy shifts, rapid advances in artificial intelligence, and long-standing productivity challenges. Yet, despite billions of dollars in public investment and strong demand for skilled labour, the deeper problem is the rate at which individuals enter and complete their apprenticeship training.
As the report highlights, “The training challenges for the construction skilled trades are behavioural as well as economic. They are shaped by the uncertainty, time pressures, self-doubt, and inertia that many people face, and by the system’s misaligned incentives and lack of support at key junctures in the skills journey.
“Canada needs to overhaul its system from one that merely provides opportunities to one that actively facilitates meaningful usage and completion. The missing ingredient is an understanding of why people behave as they do.”
The report states that behavioural science — the study of cognitive constraints, social pressures, and behavioural barriers that shape human decision-making — could help address the growing challenge that is made more urgent by the economic pressures and opportunities facing Canada in 2026 and beyond.
With apprenticeship completion rates in Canada stuck since 2013 at 20 per cent of registrations, despite the demand for workers, the damage is billions of dollars in lost GDP, worker incomes and tax revenues.
Lyall says the low completion rates can’t be overlooked, and applying behavioural science to the construction talent pipeline and skills training policy could significantly improve outcomes.
“While increased funding for apprenticeships is important, the greater challenge lies in how training policies and programs are designed and delivered,” he says. “The behavioural recommendations outlined in this extensive and well-researched report would help address these weaknesses.”
Click here to view the report.
RESCON is the province’s leading association of residential builders committed to providing leadership and fostering innovation in the industry.
Grant Cameron RESCON 905-638-1706 media@rescon.com
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