One of the key observations in a FOCAL Initiative paper entitled Youth Employment in Canada’s Automotive Manufacturing Industry states:

“The demographic shift toward an older labour force in Canada presents automotive manufacturing employers with significant challenges. An aging and retiring labour force means a loss of the accumulated skill and knowledge of older workers simultaneous along with increased pressure to compete with other sectors in the hiring and retention of young workers.”

That, in a nutshell, represents both a problem and an opportunity for the automotive manufacturing industry and those who wish to work in it.

The Youth paper examines – among several other issues – demographics, attitudes and wages as they relate to young workers seeking employment in the automotive manufacturing industry. It also includes candid first-person commentary from employers actively looking for youth labour. What follows is a detailed summary of that paper.

Some leading research-based indicators

• The proportion of employees in Canada’s automotive manufacturing industry who are youth (those aged 15-24) is smaller than the youth proportion in the overall working age population.
• In 2017, youth aged 15-24 comprised 13.3% of all persons employed in Canada, but just 10.5% of vehicle manufacturing employees and only 10.7% of the parts manufacturing employees were aged 15-24.
• The youth proportions of workforces in both vehicle and parts manufacturing are substantially higher than the youth proportion employed in Canada’s overall manufacturing sector.
• Younger employees in Canada’s automotive manufacturing sector are more likely to have full time jobs than are youth working in the either the overall manufacturing sector or in the workforce as a whole.

The issue of talent attraction

A 2017 study from the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) about the US automotive manufacturing industry concluded that:

“Too few youth, and the people who influence their career choices, have a clear understanding of the exciting high-tech opportunities in the 21st century automotive industry. It’s not a secret that misconceptions about the industry are hampering talent attraction efforts.”

The 2017 CAR study found that, in general, the automotive industry is not viewed as a growth industry. Only 9% of adults surveyed said that automotive was a growth industry. And notably, only 9% of youth who did not know anyone employed in the auto industry would consider an automotive-related career.

One of our goals is to identify those misconceptions and suggest recruitment strategies designed to overcome them. 

A major misconception

A major misconception involves wages. The automotive industry is relatively well-paying. As displayed in the chart below, and as we state in the paper’s supporting text, “in 2017 youth average hourly wages in both vehicle manufacturing ($21.76) and in parts manufacturing ($17.44) were higher than the youth average wage in overall manufacturing ($17.12) and higher than the youth average wage for all industries ($15.12).

The youth average wage in vehicle manufacturing substantially outdoes the youth average wage for ‘all industries’ and the youth average wage in manufacturing. The youth average wage in parts manufacturing was also greater than the youth average wage for manufacturing as a whole.”

Youth average hourly wages in Canada (2017)

Millennials vs. baby boomers: differences and similarities

Beyond compensation, the paper includes extensive informed commentary covering the cultural and generational differences between, for example, incoming millennial workers (25-40 years old) and the exiting baby boom generation (57-75 years old). That commentary provides several key clues about how to effectively recruit younger workers.

It has been observed that boomers have a “live to work” mentality. They value consistency and loyalty and, in general, are reluctant to challenge authority.

Millennials, by contrast, value a “work-life balance.” They prefer employment arrangements aligned with flexibility, collaboration, innovation and choice.

These differences translate into the need for a different approach when hiring younger workers who are:

• Disinclined to accept challenging shift arrangements.
• Predominantly motivated by opportunities for rapid career advancement.
• Attracted to working conditions supporting purposefulness and work-life balance.

While the older generation of workers are also attracted to work-life balance and work flexibility, the evidence strongly suggests that increasing numbers of employers in Canada’s automotive manufacturing sector anxious to recruit youth workers have:

1. Recognized these shifts in attitudes and values.
2. Adopted policies that are better aligned with both.

We’re listening carefully and taking notes

Our analysis of these shifts is supported by several candid comments from employers paying close attention to what’s going on. These comments are both wide-ranging and occasionally critical, but incredibly informative. What follows are of just a few of them:

“Younger workers in their 20s are sometimes reluctant to take/keep jobs in this plant, partially because of shift work preferences. New hires in production will work the afternoon shift for six or seven years before moving to the day shift.”

Parts manufacturer, Eastern Ontario

“For production employees, the current generation prefers digital versus manual work and the company suffers retention problems after 3 to 5 years. Skill sets of these employees are too low. Our wage schedule tops out at $28 an hour for tow motor driving and too many employees are plateauing at that level and not moving up the skill ladder.”

Parts manufacturer, Golden Horseshoe Region

“Immigration and automation are very important because younger Canadian workers are increasingly less attracted to the manufacturing workforce – young Canadians want to move up quickly but lack the skills to do so.”

Winnipeg area manufacturer

“Younger employees want flexible benefits, ones that are relevant to them but perhaps not to our older employees – often a challenge from an HR point of view.”

Parts manufacturer, Stratford region

“Our main labour market challenge is attracting apprentices. Our work/life balance is not attractive to youth, so our available labour pool has to expand outside the Windsor region. It can be tough to attract people due to the stigma around manufacturing.”

OEM Assembly, Windsor/Essex area

“One of the problems is that young people see manufacturing as an out-of-date sector. So there is a pipeline issue, with a shortage of people coming into the pipeline due to manufacturing’s image problem.”

Regional employment/economic development organization, Southern Ontario

“We can have better cross-pollination. For example, some people who used to be 3D animators in the animation industry are now coming into CAD positions in the industry. We need to tell young people that skills learned elsewhere are often transferable to our sector.”

Industry association representative, Southern Ontario

“We need parents, students and guidance counsellors to be working together in events such as Manufacturing Day, but the role of parents is especially important.”

Automation/tooling employer, Windsor/Essex region

Conclusion

Automotive industry employment Ontario accounts for approximately 86% of automotive employment in Canada and Québec accounts for about 8%. They are the dominant players in the category. Both provinces will experience significant shifts in the age distributions of their populations over the next decade.

This will place increased pressure on automotive manufacturing employers as they attempt to attract young people as new employees. To recruit those young people employers will need to understand, and deploy, the incentives most likely to encourage youth workers to join the automotive industry.

Find out more from FOCAL

The Future of Canadian Automotive Labourforce (FOCAL) Initiative is a collaboration of the Canadian Skills Training and Employment Coalition (CSTEC), the Automotive Policy Research Centre and Prism Economics and Analysis. 

Funded by the Government of Canada, you can find out more about us on our website and follow us on Social Media – LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – and through our newsletter.