Polygon Created with Sketch. Home | Research

Research

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. 

Woman leading session with coworkers

Research Resources

Research and database icons.

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.

Search the database

Research icon of a document.

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.

Get the bibliography

Icon showing a profile in search results

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.

Search our network

Featured Research

research

Skills development in the North: an ecosystem shaped by distinct challenges

The Northern skills ecosystem is shaped by distinct challenges. This primer discusses how these challenges…
Aerial view of the inside of a manufacturing warehouse
research

The big shift: changes in Canadian manufacturing employment, 2003-2018, Full Report

Despite the significant attention paid to Canada’s loss of manufacturing jobs at a broader level,…
hand holding a stylus and writing on a tablet
research

Learning Bulletins, sharing knowledge and insights

Learning insights that gather research and early findings from our innovation projects to help navigate…
View all Research

Search Research Projects

  • Filter by Themes
  • Advancing Inclusion
  • Building Capacity
  • Supporting Employers
  • Supporting Workers
  • Filter by Region
  • Across Canada

Suggested Filters

Digital Infrastructure for the Post-Pandemic World

This report examines the key components of Canada’s essential digital infrastructure system, highlights worrying inequalities that exist within this system, and offers recommendations on how to quickly reduce some of the most glaring obstacles that prevent many of those who would benefit the most from accessing training, education and employment opportunities digitally from doing so.

Economic Equality in a Changing World: Removing Barriers to Employment for Women

Action is needed to alleviate gender barriers. This report summarizes existing research and prevailing issues surrounding gender inequality, including those exacerbated by COVID-19, and points to further research that needs to be done on initiatives to reduce gender inequalities.

Twin Efforts: Opportunities for Collaboration in Indigenous Post-Secondary Educationexternal link icon

Indigenous Institutes play an essential role in helping Indigenous peoples—Canada’s fastest-growing population—prepare for the labour market. And they bring a distinctly Indigenous lens to higher education.

Employment Gaps and Underemployment for Racialized Groups and Immigrants in Canada: Current Findings and Future Directions

“Foreign-sounding names” are 20 to 40 per cent less likely to get a call-back for a job interview, depending on company size.

Work at home or live at work: The complexities of new working arrangements

This survey report explores both the positive and negative experiences with working from home, and how these vary among different types of employees.

Skills for the Post-Pandemic World Series

The Future of Work continues to be a major area of focus for the Future Skills Centre and our partners at the Public Policy Forum and at the Diversity Institute.

Technological Change in the North: How STEM Skills Can Help Indigenous Workers Adaptexternal link icon

The economy in Northern Canada is changing. Sectors, such as mining, forestry, and tourism, can quickly expand or contract. Advancing technology is one factor driving those changes.

Social and Emotional Skills are Top of Mind Across Canada

When we asked participants across Canada to identify the most important skills for career success, they overwhelmingly identified social and emotional skills. This summary details their concerns, challenges, and suggestions.
View all Research