The provincial government has partnered with the B.C. Forest Safety Council and the Council of Forest Industries on two projects that will support the recruitment, identification and skills assessment of qualified workers.
Victoria has invested more than $530,000, through the Sector Labour Market Partnership Program (LMP), to BCFSC to lead the Forest Sector Workforce Initiative Competency Standards Project and to COFI to lead the Forest Workforce Initiative Recruitment Project.
“The B.C. forest industry is facing a demographic shift with up to 50 per cent of its skilled workforce retiring over the next 10 years,” said Susan Yurkovich, COFI president and CEO.
“The industry is hiring about 2,700 new employees each year over the next decade, and this investment will support workers to find jobs in the forest sector in communities throughout the province.”
The goal of the project is to establish the competencies and develop assessment tools that employers can use to evaluate worker qualifications for careers in silviculture, integrated harvesting and resource road building.
The project is expected to finish by spring 2018.