Keep the motors, robots and control systems of factories, mines and mills running. A Red Seal apprenticeship with indoor, year-round work.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
An apprenticeship: you are hired by a sponsor, paid while you learn on the job, and go to class for a few weeks at a time. Every fact here is from Skilled Trades Ontario (STO) and the Ontario government. See every Ontario trade side by side
You are paid from your first day. Over the 7,950 hours on the job, even at the minimum wage you would earn at least $142,703 before tax while you train, and most sponsors pay more as your skills grow.
Skilled Trades Ontario's trade page says 840 hours in class, but its newer curriculum sets 1,050 over 4 levels, so this uses the newer figure. The curriculum (opens in a new tab)
The trade on Skilled Trades Ontario's site(opens in a new tab)
Still in high school? In Grade 11 or 12, with at least 14 credits and age 15 or older, you can start an apprenticeship through co-op placements and earn credits at the same time. Ask your school's OYAP recruiter, guidance counsellor or co-op teacher. Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program (OYAP)(opens in a new tab)
Not ready to find a sponsor? Free pre-apprenticeship programs (up to a year at a college or community agency, tools and books covered, with a work placement) get you ready and in front of employers. Employment Ontario helps you apply. Pre-apprenticeship training(opens in a new tab)
Ontario sets no percentage of full pay for apprentices. Your sponsor agrees your wage with you, and it can never be below the minimum wage: $17.95 an hour from 1 October 2026. Source (opens in a new tab)
Programs in the fields this career usually comes through. Each has its own page: what it takes to get in, the courses you need and what it costs.
The median pay is about $87,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $58,000 at the lower end to about $112,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
4 to 5 years, on the usual route, and you are paid while you train from the first day.
$2,300 to $9,150 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
It depends where you work. You need a licence, certificate or registration in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Quebec. Elsewhere there is none to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Moderate demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$87,000
Lower end
$58,000
Upper end
$112,000
Job Bank's national median is $42 an hour, about $87,000 a year at 40 hours a week. The range runs from $28 to $54 an hour and covers all industrial electricians. Shift premiums and overtime are paid on top of the hourly rate.
A share of the journeyperson rate
Rising with each level
Industrial apprentices are usually hired by a plant, not a contractor, so the work runs year round. In Ontario no share is set in law: your sponsor agrees your rate, often in a union or company agreement, and it can never be below the minimum wage.
$49 an hour
Job Bank's median in Saskatchewan, about $102,000 a year, the highest of any province
British Columbia is next at $45. Ontario's median is $40.50, and Prince Edward Island's is the lowest, at $34.93. Overtime on breakdowns and planned shutdowns is paid on top.
Roughly, all in
$2,300 to $9,150
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
This is paid work from the start, so the low end is Ontario's three in school levels, where the province now pays the Level 1 classroom fee, a starter set of tools and meters, and the Certificate of Qualification exam, free on your first try in Ontario once your apprenticeship is complete. The high end is four levels at the dearer rate charged in some other provinces plus a fuller tool kit. Most plants supply the expensive test gear, so you are not buying it. The Canada Apprentice Loan charges no interest and EI (Employment Insurance) can cover school blocks, and most apprentices finish with savings rather than debt.
Most apprentices finish with money saved instead of student debt. The federal Apprenticeship Incentive Grant closed on March 31, 2025. The new federal Red Seal Completion Bonus pays $5,000 if you finish your apprenticeship and get certified in a Red Seal trade on or after April 1, 2025. Applications open November 16, 2026.
Company pension and benefits
Large plants offer defined-benefit or matched pension plans, health and dental.
Shift premiums
Extra per hour for afternoons, nights and weekends. Plants run around the clock.
Steady year-round work
No seasonal layoffs, unlike construction.
Union representation
Unifor, the Steelworkers and other industrial unions cover many plant electricians.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
An apprenticeship, usually inside a plant. About 80% on the job, 20% in class.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Grade 12 with math and physics. Some provinces let you start through a high school apprenticeship program.
Find a sponsor
Weeks to months
A manufacturer, mine, mill or industrial contractor that will register you. Pre-apprenticeship college programs and a construction electrician start both help.
Register the apprenticeship
Days
With Skilled Trades Ontario (trade 442A), Alberta Apprenticeship and Industry Training, or your province's trades body. In Alberta and Quebec the single Electrician trade covers industrial work.
Work and study
4 to 5 years
9,000 hours in Ontario: 8,160 on the job and 840 in class, over three levels.
Certificate of Qualification and Red Seal
After your hours
Pass the provincial exam. The Red Seal endorsement lets you work anywhere in Canada.
Math
Motor calculations, three-phase power and control logic.
Physics
Electricity, magnetism and mechanics every day.
Computer or technology classes
Modern plants run on programmable controllers and networks.
English
Reading the electrical code, manuals and drawings.
Industrial Electrician has been a Red Seal trade since 1966. In Ontario it is non-compulsory, so a plant can legally hire you without a certificate, but most employers want one. In BC (British Columbia), Alberta and Manitoba you must be a registered apprentice or certified: BC and Manitoba list Industrial Electrician as compulsory, and Alberta's compulsory Electrician trade covers industrial work. In Quebec, plant work outside construction needs the employment ministry's compulsory electricity certificate, and construction sites need a CCQ (Commission de la construction du Québec) certificate. The Red Seal endorsement lets you move between provinces without retesting.
Quebec has no separate industrial electrician ticket. Plant electricians hold the electricity certificate from the Quebec employment ministry, and construction sites need a CCQ (Quebec construction commission) card instead.
Secondary IV courses
From age 16
The DEP (Diploma of Vocational Studies) in Automated Systems Electromechanics needs Secondary IV language of instruction, second language and math, and you must be 16.
A vocational diploma (optional)
About 19 months
The DEP in Automated Systems Electromechanics (5388, in English 5888) is 1,800 hours and lists industrial electrician among its jobs. In English at Rosemount Technology Centre in Montreal.
Register as an apprentice
Weeks
Once hired, enrol in the electricity apprenticeship with the ministère de l'Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale (the employment ministry) and get an apprentice card, renewed every year.
Apprenticeship and required courses
5,000 hours or more
At least 5,000 hours under a certified electrician, plus courses in health and safety with lockout, basic electricity, reading electrical plans and three-phase transformers.
Qualification exam
At the end
3 hours, 40 to 60 multiple choice questions, 60% to pass. In French, or English if an exception in the Charter of the French language applies to you. The certificate lasts 4 years.
Red Seal, if you want it
Any time after
The Quebec electricity certificate counts for the Industrial Electrician Red Seal. With it you apply to sit the exam: 100 to 150 questions, 4 hours, 70% to pass.
The ministry's electricity certificate covers electrical work outside the construction industry. It is not needed for work in mines. Work on construction sites needs a certificate from the CCQ (Commission de la construction du Québec) instead, through its own apprenticeship. A CCQ journeyperson electrician gets the ministry certificate with no extra requirements.
Things you don't need, but that help.
PLC (programmable logic controller) programming
The computers that run production lines. Most modern plants run on them.
Instrumentation ticket
A second Red Seal trade. Dual-ticket electricians are in short supply in oil, gas and mining.
Robotics and drives
Auto plants and food plants need people who can fix robots and variable-speed drives.
High-voltage and arc-flash training
Working on plant substations and switchgear.
Pre-apprenticeship or electrical technician diploma
A year or two of college makes plants far more willing to sponsor you.
Construction electrician hours
Many industrial electricians start in construction and switch.
Driver's licence and willingness to work shifts
Plants run 24 hours, and rotating shifts are the norm for maintenance.
Confined space and lockout training
Short courses every plant requires.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Start at 7am, or 7pm on nights. Check the work orders: a conveyor motor tripped overnight, a sensor on the packaging line is failing, a new machine needs power. Troubleshoot with a meter and the drawings, lock out the equipment, replace the part, test it, restart the line. When production stops because of an electrical fault, every minute costs the plant money and everyone is watching you. Between breakdowns: planned maintenance, upgrades and paperwork.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
Job Bank counted roughly 35,600 industrial electricians working in Canada in 2023, 37% of them aged 50 or over. It expects a moderate risk of a shortage of workers through 2033.
Industrial Electrician became a Red Seal trade in 1966. Today it carries the Red Seal in 8 provinces plus Yukon and the Northwest Territories. Alberta, Saskatchewan and Nunavut are the exceptions.
Job Bank rates 3-year job prospects good in Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan, moderate in five other provinces, and limited only in Quebec.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Electrical and energy first, then the rest of the field. See every career in skilled trades.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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