Journeyman vs Journeyperson

We recently had a question on our Facebook page on why a client was using the word ‘journeyperson’ vs ‘journeyman’. It’s an interesting question and made me look into the history of terms and the current usage.

In Canada, the Federal Government has been using ‘journeyperson’ since 2008, but the history of its usage started decades earlier. Unions and companies in the United States started changing the language in their collective agreements in the early 1990’s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3AJourneyman.

Wikipedia still uses ‘journeyman’ exclusively, and there is an interesting discussion over the use of ‘journeyperson’ on their site. One thing take note of is only 13% of Wikipedians are female, so it may be some time before many institutions change: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedians.

Our clients and individuals use the terms they would like to use, and for us, the use of ‘journeyperson’ is more inclusive. With hundreds of thousands of women having finished apprenticeships, their right to be included in the langage of agreement and when being addressed in job advertisements makes sense.

With the shortage of skilled trades being global and throughout the US and Canada, we need to make space for half of the population to fully participate or the shortage will continue. In the meantiime, most of our clients are hiring as many journeywomen and journeymen as they can and advertising with both ‘journeyman’ and ‘journeyperson’.

Kael Campbell is President and Lead Recruiter of Red Seal Recruiting Solutions, a company providing recruitment services in mining, equipment and plant maintenance, utilities, manufacturing, construction, and transportation. When he is not recruiting, Kael spends as much time as possible with family in the great outdoors and on the water. He volunteers his time as a Board Member of the Entrepreneurs Organization of Vancouver Island. You are invited to subscribe to our employer newsletter or submit your resume.