The Geographical Mobility of Journeypersons in Canada: Evidence from Administrative Data

There is a growing body of literature examining both apprenticeship training and journeypersons, because of the ability of these programs to facilitate and maintain a skilled workforce. However, there remains a gap in the literature on the internal migration patterns of these journeypersons from a life course perspective. In this article, we deploy a life course approach and draw on data from the Education and Labour Market Longitudinal Platform (ELMLP) from 2008 to 2016 to establish the in- and out-migration patterns of journeypersons in Canada between Economic Regions (ER) in all provinces and territories. We show that most journeypersons stay within an ER 1 year after completing their certification, but that the probability of migration differs by province, major trade group, Red Seal certification, and individual-level sociodemographic characteristics, such as age, gender, and immigrant status. Generally, most migrations happen within provinces and/or territories, except for Alberta, which receives many migrants from Atlantic Canada. While oil and gas drillers, servicers, testers, and related workers are the most likely to migrate to another ER, community and social service workers fall at the opposite extreme. Moreover, women and immigrants in our sample are less likely to migrate than males or non-immigrants, respectively.