Applications to apprenticeship programs declining in BC

According to BC's Industry Training Authority (ITA), there has been a 5% decline, year over year, from 2008-09 to 2009-10 in the number of people applying to apprenticeship programs. The root cause is the challenging economy, which has employers thinking twice before sponsoring or hiring anyone, let alone an apprentice, ITA says. There has been a 1% decline in the number of employer sponsors. The agency's CEO says it's imperative that employers and individuals looking toward the trades for jobs remain encouraged, as the Conference Board of Canada projects BC will be short 160,000 trades workers by 2015. Vancouver Province