Apprenticeship record - By DARRELL WINWOOD, Alberta Daily Herald Tribune
Alberta's empty labour pool is attracting a record amount of apprenticeships hoping to dive into the hot economy.
The province is setting records for the amount of entry level trades workers as it announced last week there are now more than 53,000 apprentices in Alberta. It's a 130 per cent increase since 1995 and here in Grande Prairie there are 2,500 registered apprentices.
One local company employing many apprentices is Lee's Sheet Metal, where 55 per cent of its work force are apprentices - 50 employees in total with another 15 pending.