Human Resources in Canada's Built Heritage Sector: Mapping the ...

MAPPING THE WORK FORCE AND SETTING STRATEGIC PRIORITIES10. Measuring Employment and EconomicActivity in the Built Heritage SectorTo make any significant progress in strengthening human resource planning in the built heritage sector,it is essential that better estimates be developed of the number of persons who work in the sector, theiroccupational distribution and their demographic characteristics. Equally, it is important to have betterestimates than we now have on the amount of preservation, repair and construction spending in the sector,as well as estimates of the distribution of that work across the trades. It would also be helpful to betterestimates of the pool of heritage (or older) structures so that the impact of demolition could be betterunderstood. The absence of descriptive employment and economic data was a one of the themes of theHeritage Canada Foundation’s report, Human Resource Issues in the Preservation of Heritage Buildings.There are several technical difficulties in measuring the built heritage sector:1. There is no consensus on how to define the sector, viz., on what constitutes a heritage structure.2. The North American Industrial Classification Systems (NAICS), which is used to analyze data atthe industry level, does not lend itself to analysis of the built heritage sector. 193. The National Occupation Classification (NOC) system identifies occupations at a level of aggregationthat subsumes occupations that are specific to the built heritage sector into broader occupationalcategories. 20 For the most part, there are too few incumbents in specialized occupations in the builtheritage sector to warrant distinct NOC classifications. Were such classifications to be devised, datasuppression rules would effectively prevent the release of statistical information.4. There is no central registry of designated heritage structures. Nor do the registries that exist trackcapital and repair expenditures. (Statistics Canada does, however, publish data on capital and repairexpenditures for heritage institutions and nature parks.)5. Building permit data do not identify planned construction spending in relation to the age of astructure. In any event, building permit data are notoriously unreliable for renovation spending inthe residential sector. In 2003, Statistics Canada’s Homeowner and Renovation Repair Survey hasbeen folded into the Survey of Household Spending. The age of structures is not identified ineither survey, nor do the data provide any detail on the nature of the renovation or repair.Although the technical difficulties are significant, they do not require us to throw up our hands. While wecannot develop precise measures of employment and economic activity, we can develop better data thanthe “back-of-the-envelope” estimates on which we are now obliged to rely.1. Public and Non-Profit Sector EmploymentA “census” could be undertaken of persons working in the built heritage sector for federal, provincial andterritorial governments, as well as major municipalities and heritage organizations. This “census” couldidentify occupation, education, accreditations, gender and age category, along with other variables judgedimportant to human resource planning.19 The NAICS system distinguishes between “prime contracting” and “trade contracting.” Prime contracting is furtherseparated into residential, non-residential and engineering construction. Trade contracting is subdivided by trade. The ageof a structure is not material to the NAICS system20 The occupational profiles in Appendix A indicate the relevant NOC classifications for the occupation©CULTURAL HUMAN RESOURCES COUNCIL53