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Future Skills

Our research will help Canadians — including current and future job-seekers, employers, policy makers, service providers, educators, and researchers — better understand future skills priorities, knowledge gaps, and leading practices, and will help build capacity to address these demands. 

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Research Resources

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Reference Database

A searchable repository on published research addressing “future skills” that will be a useful tool for researchers and individuals interested in the future of work and the future of skills.

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Annotated Bibliography

Intended as a useful tool to researchers in need of initial guidance in future skills, this is a list of 39 key academic and “grey literature” publications.

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Research Network

An expanding and diverse group of scholars, experts, practitioners and other stakeholders actively engaged in research on future skills and the future of work.

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Featured Research

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Valuing Skills in Canada: A Statistical Approach

In this research, we examine the relationship between skills and income, considering which skills have…
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Digital Skills and the Skills Gap

For more than 20 years, industry has been decrying the skills gap and the need…
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Quality of work of Canada’s contingent workforce

To examine further the nature of gig work in Canada and understand the quality of…
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Digital Skills for a Future-Ready Worldexternal link icon

We know that digital skills are essential for a strong post-pandemic recovery. But we don’t have a clear picture of the exact digital skills that Canadian employers are looking for. We need to understand these gaps so we can respond with the right tools and training.

Race alongside the machines: Occupational digitalization trends in Canada, 2006-2021

Understanding which jobs have changed the most, and which type of digital skills are changing, is important in informing better policies to prepare workers for the future.

The Mother of Invention: Skills for Innovation in the Post-Pandemic World

To be successful, Canada’s skills strategies must address skills for innovation across sectors from solo entrepreneurs, to small and medium-sized businesses, to large corporations – and even within government itself.

Infographic: How to forecast skills in demandexternal link icon

From Low-Mobility to Rapid-Growth Jobs: How Governments and Agencies Can Build the Bridge to Clean Economy Careers

This issue briefing looks at the retraining required to transition workers from occupations susceptible to automation to rapidly growing occupations in the clean economy.

Bridging Generational Divides: Advancing Digital Skills in Canada’s Apprenticeships and Skilled Trades Ecosystem

A digital revolution is coming to the skilled trades. Tradespeople will need a range of new digital skills to keep pace with the future of work. In this report, we look at how Canadian apprenticeship training can adapt to the future of work.

A Typology of Gig Workers in Canada: Towards a new model for understanding gig work through human, social, and economic capital

This paper offers a conceptual framework and preliminary typology of gig work and workers, based on a thorough review and synthesis of the existing research, designed to be tested “in the field” with real gig workers themselves.

Laying foundations: Technological maturity in Canada’s construction sector

In this report, in collaboration with Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship we reflect on the evidence and next steps needed to support the Canadian construction sector succeed and adapt to change in the years to come.
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