With an economy That’s seen recent increases of more than 20,000 jobs per month, the Saskatchewan government is including nearly $200 million in skills training in their 2007-08 budget.
?Saskatchewan now has more jobs than people,? announced Pat Atkinson, the advanced education and employment minister, in a recent press release. ?We need to make sure our people are trained and ready to seize the opportunities our economy is creating for them? (1).
The funding will provide an extra 2,118 education and training opportunities to meet the thriving economy’s demand for qualified, skilled workers.
The new skills training will include 432 opportunities in Adult Basic Education, and 1,686 additional openings in health care education and training, northern studies, apprenticeships, skills training, and work-based training.
Among the facilities benefitting from this funding are local colleges, the Apprenticeship and Trade Certification Commission, Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies, Dumont Technical Institute, the College of Medicine, and the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology (SIAST).
Dr. Bob McCulloch, SIAST president and CEO, summed up the benefits that his organization and others will see, along with those to Saskatchewan’s workforce: ?This investment will enable us to further increase the number of students that we can educate and prepare for rewarding careers, particularly in high-demand areas? (1)
(1) Government of Saskatchewan, 2007. ?Training Opportunities in Saskatchewan Grow in Response to the Booming Economy.? Retrieved May 23, 2007, from http://www.gov.sk.ca/news?newsId=836585db-e482-48ca-8fa1-3190356d9438
