New Study and Youth Perception Polling Shed Light on Challenges Faced by Mining-Centric Post-Secondary Education Programs

OTTAWA, ON, October 10, 2023 – The Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR) is pleased to announce the release of the 2023 From Classroom to Mine Site: A Review of Canada’s Post-Secondary Education Pipeline for the Mining Sector report that delves into the post-secondary education (PSE) system and its capacity to support Canada’s rapidly expanding mining labour market.

The result of qualitative interviews and quantitative data analysis, the report sheds light on the challenges faced by mining-centric PSE programs and offers insightful recommendations to address them.

These challenges include declining mining-related program enrolment numbers, their geographical concentration, unresponsiveness to labour demand and struggles with diversity. Three critical occupations in the mining industry—mining engineers, geologists and mining technicians—are particularly affected by these challenges.

MiHR also undertook mining perception polling in 2020 with 3000 youth aged 15 to 30, and recently completed a second polling exercise with 1500 youth to build on the 2020 results. Mining continues to be viewed less favourably among those polled compared with other sectors but there has been a slight increase in positive perceptions from 24% in 2020 to 27% today. There is a belief that mining has good pay and benefits (65%), that there are lots of jobs available (58%), yet only 26% think the work is safe. Thirty four percent would consider a career in the mining sector – an increase of 3% compared to 2020.

“Mining is being called upon to help transition Canada to a clean economy, as many minerals and metals play an essential role in the energy transition,” said Ryan Montpellier, Executive Director of MiHR. “Our nation requires an inclusive, skilled workforce for a competitive mining sector that creates wealth and opportunity for Canadians. Yet a lack of youth awareness and interest in mining coupled with decreasing enrolment trends like mining engineering’s decrease of over 50% from 2014 to 2022, highlight a bottleneck for attracting new talent when it’s needed most. Our new report is a resource for industry and education to turn the tide for mining-centric PSE programs and help Canada be the world leader in responsible, safe and sustainable mining.”

To learn more about these challenges and recommended solutions, please visit mihr.ca to download the report.

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About the Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR)

MiHR is Canada’s knowledge centre for mining labour market intelligence. An independent, non-profit organization, MiHR drives collaboration among mining and exploration companies, organized labour, contractors, educational institutions, industry associations and Indigenous groups to identify opportunities and address the human resource and labour market challenges facing the Canadian minerals and metals sector.

For More Information:

William Meyer
Director of Marketing & Communication
The Mining Industry Human Resources Council
613.270.9696 x258
wmeyer@mihr.ca