Resilient by Design: The Skills Canadians Need Now and for the Future

The Issue

In June 2025, there were 492,000 vacant jobs in Canada, – despite the lowest vacancy rate since 2017. Many of these vacancies are due to skills imbalances, which occur when the skills demanded do not match the skills in supply. Employers across all sectors in Canada report continuing challenges to find the skills they need. The Conference Board of Canada found a considerable gap between the skills needed for the future economy and the skills possessed by the current Canadian labour force, costing the economy $2.6 billion in 2024 and reduced productivity by 0.1 percentage points. Specifically, Canada is short at least 64,000 skilled workers in engineering, technical occupations, higher-skill goods, and other higher-skill services with each excess vacancy costing the Canadian economy an estimated $40,400. 

While evidence from the OECD’s Program for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) shows that on average, Canadians do well on numeracy, literacy and adaptive problem-solving relative to other countries, there continues to be too many people with lower skills in these critical areas, making them vulnerable to the types of disruption that have become commonplace (i.e automation etc.) and leaving employers with gaps to fill. 

Employer demand has also increased for soft skills to complement technical skill sets. Soft skills are difficult to automate, but also time consuming and expensive to teach, often built over many years of education and training. While many employers say that soft skills are essential, there is no consensus for how soft skills should be evaluated and certified, making it difficult for learners and workers to trust that employers will recognize their competencies. It is also difficult for employers to make hiring decisions on the basis of skills they do not know how to define, assess or evaluate.

The skills gap is most acute for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), who account for approximately 99.6% of Canadian businesses in 2024. SMEs often lack the human resource capacity to invest in skills assessments and upskilling their current workforce, impacting effective recruitment and retention. A recent survey of Canadian SMEs revealed that roughly half of those surveyed said they had difficulties finding candidates with the appropriate skill levels for open positions. When SMEs do hire, providing their workforce with additional training is often a challenge. In 2022, 70% of employees at Canadian SMEs expressed interest in external training opportunities, but only 12% actually did any in the preceding year. Smaller firms often have less cash on hand or limited access to capital, restricting their ability to finance training. These small firms also need their workforce at work – it is a high opportunity cost to send workers for training.

Immigration has historically driven most labour force growth in Canada, but many newcomers struggle to have their skills recognized, complicating their transition to employment commensurate of their skills. For instance, a recent study found that more than 25% of recent immigrants that came to Canada with a bachelor’s degree were employed in jobs requiring only a high school diploma or less, a figure three times higher than the rate for Canadian-born workers. Having one’s credentials recognized is often long and complicated, impacting Canada’s ability to fill critical jobs.

Postsecondary institutions play a critical role in skills development as roughly 80% of vacant jobs require some form of postsecondary education. Postsecondary education leads to higher wages over time and to the acquisition of a wide range of skills, including soft and digital and other skills. The recent PIACC results also show a correlation between postsecondary institutions (PSI) attainment and skills proficiency. However, postsecondary institutions across Canada are currently struggling to address significant budget deficits following changes to the number of international student permits and their associated tuition revenues. Many colleges and universities across Canada are reducing programs and laying off staff.   

In addition to skills shortages among workers, labour shortages are particularly acute in key sectors like health care and construction. As Canada’s population ages, demand for health care services increases. According to the Conference Board of Canada, there are over 80,000 vacancies for nurses, early childhood educators and social and community support workers at present (this includes: registered nurses, registered psychiatric nurses, nurses’ aides, ordinaires, patient services associates and licensed practical nurses),  and the vacancy rates for these occupations is set to increase by at least 30% by 2040. Health care currently represents approximately 12.4% of Canada’s annual GDP, or over $370 billion dollars. These job vacancies translate into lost productivity overall and less care for our population, who depend more and more on professional care. 

The construction industry represented approximately 7.4% of Canadian GDP in 2024, and an aging workforce has it on track to lose 21% of this workforce over the next decade. This significant loss of talent and experience comes as housing shortages are front of mind for communities and policymakers across the country. The federal government has a goal of building housing quickly, all while using lower-carbon technologies and materials, however it is not certain that Canada has the necessary labour and skills to ensure that these homes are built. BuildForce estimates that Canada will need to recruit over 250,000 new workers under the age of 30 in the next 10 years for the construction sector. Efforts are underway to improve recruitment strategies towards attracting a more diverse talent pool to the skilled trades. A further challenge is that skills gaps also exist for current construction workers who need additional training in lower-carbon building techniques. 

Definitions:

1. Soft skills – These are skills that allow individuals to co-operate across teams, regulate thoughts and emotions, think strategically, and navigate ambiguity. These attributes translate into tangible jobs skills that are highly valued by employers. Other terms that get used for soft skills include social-emotional skills, human, essential, foundational or core skills. Examples of soft skills include: empathy, collaboration, emotional intelligence, communication, problem-solving, positive attitudes and behaviours and adaptability. 
2. Technical skills – Specific knowledge and applied abilities used to perform specific tasks. For example those required to be in electrical trades, pipefitters, medical technologists, civil, mechanical or industrial engineers, and inspectors or regulatory officers.  
3. Digital skills – Digital skills are, at their core, technical skills used in operating computers. There are levels of digital skills mastery, for example, operating software like Microsoft Office is a basic digital skill, while online platform development is an advanced digital skill.
4. Green skills – are skills related to the promotion and implementation of environmentally sustainable practices that are necessary for the transition to a lower-carbon economy, ranging from foundational to advanced competencies. For example, understanding of climate change, current environmental policies and guidelines, sustainable value chains and carbon footprint accounting. 

What We Investigated

Since opening in 2019, the Future Skills Centre invested in research and innovation projects to ensure Canada will have people with the right skills, in the right places, at the right time. 

How to upskill workers in soft skills?

Soft skills have always been important but they are rapidly becoming essential to the future of work in Canada. As automation transforms the future of manual and technical labour, soft skills are essential because many jobs require more collaboration amongst workers and soft skill acquisition helps to show employers that workers are able to do this effectively. While technical skills remain important, many are being automated, and employers need workers to fill jobs that require mastery of several soft skills that cannot be replicated by artificial intelligence (AI). Recognizing the importance of these skills, projects supported by the Future Skills Centre looked to improve understanding of how best to train workers in soft skills, and how to assess soft skills for both workers and employers. These projects included:

1. Employability Skills Assessment Tool – Many programs exist to help individuals develop social and emotional skills (SES) however, they overwhelmingly target children and youth. In addition, many existing SES assessment methods are limited by observer bias and an inability to consider context. To address these gaps, Futureworx developed the Employability Skills Assessment Tool (ESAT), an online tool that supports the development and assessment of SES. 
2. Food Processing Skills Canada – Using its industry-validated Learning and Recognition Framework Food Processing Skills Canada developed the Skills Training Atlantic Canada (STAC) program to address the skill gaps and training needs of the industry. The program offered online courses that covered technical and social-emotional skills for different groups of workers. The pilot program was most successful in recruiting and training supervisors in the food and beverage processing industry. 
3. Future of Work Skills Development Program – This project from the Greater Fredericton Community Economic Development Agency targeted the integration of human-centric skills—like emotional intelligence—with technical competencies, thereby addressing the inadequacies of traditional educational pathways in preparing students for future job markets. Program developers strategically chose to work with 19 educational and private-sector partners. These partnerships proved crucial, facilitating the program’s integration into existing educational frameworks and its scalability.

How to train workers in digital and other technical skills in a rapidly changing labour market?

Skills needs are changing across all sectors at a rapid pace, bringing about significant changes to ways that workers upskill, but also to the upskilling content and delivery methods. Despite widespread acknowledgement of their importance, employers still have difficulties hiring workers with basic digital skills, like using Microsoft Office or virtual meeting software. Other digital and technical skills continue to be critical, especially when paired with the soft skills that AI cannot yet replicate. 

1. Advanced Digital and Professional Training (ADAPT) – Technical and digital skills are still in high demand in the IT sector and employers report difficulty finding applicants with the necessary skill sets. This program was designed to provide short, but intensive digital skills training, specifically geared towards recent postsecondary graduates from underrepresented groups. Extensive consultation with employers imbued the program with a robust understanding of the digital skills needed by employers. The program also included soft skills training in oral communication, although the gains reported by participants were significantly higher across the advanced digital skills.
2. Rogers Cybersecurity Catalyst – The growing industry of cybersecurity has been facing labour shortages for several years, and more employers are looking for new sources of under-tapped talent. To respond to this challenge, the Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst launched the Accelerated Cybersecurity Training Program, which targets women, new Canadians and displaced workers, providing them with globally-recognized cybersecurity certifications, and job search assistance.

How do we incorporate green skills across sectors?

The skills that will be needed to adapt to a decarbonized economy will not look the same from sector-to-sector, nor across regions. The approach will require detailed knowledge of local communities and the challenges they face. More examples are needed of how to transition workers from contracting industries, or industries being entirely phased out to growing, greener industries. 

1. Smart Prosperity Institute, Zero Emissions Vehicles – This research project investigated Ontario’s preparedness for the shift to zero-emissions vehicles and battery manufacturing. It was guided by key questions: Are current automotive workers ready for emerging roles? Will there be enough workers to meet demand? What new skills are needed? And what actions should governments, educators, unions, employers, and employment services take to support the workforce transition?
2. Building Tomorrow – This research sought to better understand how Canada’s Emissions Reduction Plan and the move to a low carbon economy will impact specific sectors like construction. In particular, it shed light on the projected consequences of the ERP for both Canada’s and the labour market’s long-term overall growth. 
3. From Knives to Knobs – Smart manufacturing and automated techniques have been shown to lead to more sustainable practices in the industry, but to implement them, meat producers need to know which skills their workers currently have and the ones they will require. This study sought to map out the skills required for this implementation to be successful.

What We’re Learning

Soft skills are increasingly in demand

Researchers at McGill University examined how job postings have in recent years shifted emphasis from education requirements towards skills requirements. While skills credentials are complementary, employers are increasingly aware of the skill sets needed to perform jobs, especially soft skills. For instance, job postings describing cognitive skills increased by 3.4% from 2017 to 2022, rising by 7% and 10.2% for social and character skills, respectively. Technical-oriented skills, while still important, saw decreases or little growth: financial skills decreased by 8%, while software skills and basic computer literacy only increased by .6% and 1.5%, respectively. 

The Conference Board of Canada sought to understand the hiring demand for soft skills, finding human-centric skills such as communication and teamwork are among the most sought-after by employers, while leadership and adaptability were also mentioned frequently in job postings for knowledge-based positions. Ontario had the largest demand for soft skills in knowledge workers, while Atlantic provinces saw the fastest increase in demand over the last five years. Information and financial services are among the sectors that sought soft skills the most, followed by education and healthcare. Knowledge-based jobs that require postsecondary education have a higher demand for soft skills compared with those that require just a high school diploma.

Diving deeper, the Conference Board of Canada examined the projected skills needed across three groups of industries: manufacturing, knowledge-based services and technical and manual services. The research found that across each of these groups, needs in technical skills are projected to decrease, while needs in soft skills, like communication and analytical skills, are projected to increase. Moreover, jobs across these sectors are increasingly requiring workers to possess several skills, as opposed to jobs where workers performed repetitive tasks that required only one technical skill.

Collège Communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick conducted research on the relevance of soft skills in today’s labour market. The findings indicated that soft skills were both highly relevant to employers and workers did not possess enough of them. To help fill this void, a program was designed to effectively train current professors in teaching and measuring soft skills – using the Employability Skills Assessment Tool (ESAT) – like teamwork, presentation skills and adaptability alongside technical subject matter-specific skills. 

In Motion and Momentum+ (IM&M+) provided upskilling in soft skills to people living on low incomes and distant from the labour market due to a variety of complex factors like precarious housing or health problems. These ‘pre-employability’ factors are rarely addressed in traditional employment services found in Canada. The program’s approach was to build foundational skills, showing participants how to leverage their strengths as a source of hope, motivation and pride. Because the personal situations of this group of participants were dynamic, engagement was structured so that each participant had the financial and social ability to participate fully in the program The program was assessed through a randomized-control trial that compared program participants with non-participants, and showed that IM&M+ participants were 42% more likely to be employed than people in similar situations who had engaged traditional employment services.

L’Institut du Québec set out to understand how generative AI was affecting the labour market and which skills may end up being automated. They estimated that, while AI will invariably lead to some jobs being automated, it will also free workers to do more creative-oriented tasks. They conclude that skills development initiatives at the organization and worker levels should emphasize training on how to use generative AI effectively in the workplace, like communication and writing, and creative thinking, emphasizing skills that cannot yet be replicated by generative AI. 

Technical and digital skills are essential, and are supercharged when paired with soft skills

As industries look for new ways to integrate technology into their operations, the need for technical and digital skills is increasing. In agriculture, for instance researchers at the University of Saskatchewan described ‘big data’ initiatives in agriculture and how the use of technology can lead to better prediction of weather trends and crop yields. These advancements demand agricultural workers with more technical skills and digital skills than in the past. Research points to an increasing demand of workers who can blend digital and soft skills.  

Programs that integrate soft skills with digital and technical skills training create stronger, more versatile competencies acquired by participants. For instance, Sheridan College designed a program to help equity-deserving entrepreneurs build digital marketing plans that combined technical, digital and interpersonal skills – leading to the first and second cohorts of entrepreneurs increasing their yearly revenues by 242% and 121%, respectively. 

FSC-funded initiatives show how soft skills can be credibly assessed and validated. The Manitoba Institute of Trades and Technology project, Success@Work Skills supported by FSC, tested a microcredential framework for validating soft skills for Indigenous youth in southern Manitoba. The skill areas were developed through needs assessments with local employers to address specific gaps by industry. The project came up against a widely held belief that soft skills like communication, teamwork and problem solving are difficult for employers to validate. But credibility was gained by integrating soft skills acquisition frameworks into already approved technical skills curriculum.

Other FSC-funded projects illustrate how inclusion strengthens outcomes. IDFusion Software and University College of the North partnered with Indigenous communities to co-create IT training programs, blending Indigenous knowledge with technical content. These programs successfully transitioned Indigenous peoples into IT careers while addressing local labour shortages. The program models were co-created with Indigenous groups, blending Indigenous ways of knowing with technology-specific content and designing Indigenous-led training modules. 

Research also suggests postsecondary programs must rethink traditional models and consider how soft skills can be taught alongside existing technical skill instruction. A study from Carleton University found that management training rooted in competition-based approaches is less suited for today’s collaborative digital economy. Businesses now depend on teamwork, cooperation, and inclusive leadership to stay competitive—skills that cannot be overlooked. 

Using Artificial Intelligence is an essential skill 

The use of AI in Canada is growing rapidly, with adoption by companies almost doubling between 2021 and 2023 and the progression has continued into 2025. Tools like ChatGPT have moved the conversation from simply replacing jobs through automation to enhancing human capabilities through AI support. This evolution brings several issues to the forefront:

• The types of skills needed to succeed in a workplace where AI is integrated, 
• The role that employers need to play in supporting employees, 
• The policies required to protect workers, especially those from underrepresented groups, whose jobs may be at risk from automation. 

Research on how automation and AI will impact the Canadian and Québec labour markets looked at the types of jobs that are likely to be automated by the arrival of generative AI (like ChatGPT), estimating that across Canada, approximately 29% of all jobs require repetitive, easily automatable tasks and are therefore vulnerable to being replaced by AI. The idea that one’s job will be replaced by AI and eventually all jobs, en masse, will be taken over by machines is perhaps one of the most recurrent fears brought up when talking about AI. That said, l’Institut du Québec found that there is no current evidence that this scenario is panning out in the early days of its implementation. This research points to skills that are not likely to be taken over by AI and the need for workers to adapt to the changing labour market by honing their soft skills, including communication, critical thinking and negotiation. L’Institut du Quebec project further observed that workers with higher levels of soft skills are also able to use AI more effectively because they are able to craft better prompts and in turn, validate the responses. 

Two projects supported by the Future Skills Centre sought to test the usage of AI into how workers perform their jobs. The first, led by l’Institut de valorisation des données (IVADO), developed training courses adapted to nine different jobs, each focusing on the AI-skills that these positions need. The content included a self-diagnosis tool and a certification process for successful participants. The project allowed participants to see where their current AI-related skills gaps were. While the self-diagnosis tool was eventually implemented – garnering international recognition – the process turned out to be more complicated than originally planned. This was primarily due to difficulties in finding already developed frameworks that could be adapted to the IVADO program. That said, once implemented, the self-diagnosis tool successfully responded to the needs of the participants and the program provided training for over 3,000 workers.

The second project with University Health Network tested AI practices in the healthcare industry. The efficiencies resulting from using AI could be significant: improved patient care and reduced costs. The project tested approaches to reduce negative attitudes around the integration of AI in healthcare by adopting a ‘mindset, skillset and toolset’ approach to engaging with workers. The first element, mindset, looked to foster curiosity among the participants, which required the program staff to establish trust. The offerings included exposure to real-life scenarios where AI had been used in healthcare and letting participants openly voice any concerns. The skillset phase emphasized that learning must be closely tailored to job level. Lastly, the toolset phase gave the participants the AI tools necessary to continue using AI in the workplace. To this end, program staff ensured that participants would continue to benefit from the expertise of AI leaders through structured mentoring and ongoing networking through the creation of a community of practice. 

Combining soft, technical and green skills is essential for success in emerging industries

The Future Skills Centre funded several projects that have aimed to better understand the skills requirements for making the transition to a low-carbon economy, including mitigation of the negative impacts on sectors and regions. The Smart Prosperity Institute estimates that while the green transition will end up creating more jobs in the long run, sectors like oil and gas and agriculture are set to lose jobs in the short term, especially in resource dependent regions of the country. Workers in these regions are therefore vulnerable to being displaced. However, one way to support these workers is to provide skills training that allows workers from declining sectors to transition to greener occupations. This is made all the more possible by effective skills mapping between industries. 

A similar question was taken up by ECO Canada’s project that focused on skills needed for 15 growth occupations in the blue economy. Different sectors of the blue economy, from renewable energies to fisheries and tourism, are facing technical skills shortages. These shortages are often accompanied by gaps in soft skills and knowledge of environmental and sustainability practices. Occupations that previously did not need varied skill sets are now becoming more complex, requiring a mastery of a specialized set of soft, technical and green skills. For example, to develop on-land salmon raising, engineers still require the technical skills required to create the structure and maintain the quality of the water, but they are also being called on to have better managerial skills in order to lead their teams and green skills that allow them to ensure that the salmon are raised sustainably. The project developed comprehensive competency profiles that support the sustainable blue economy and enabled local postsecondary training programs to take soft (including leadership skills) and environmental skills into account when designing programs that lead to employment in the industry.

Recognizing the critical need that green skills are playing in the construction industry, Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC) designed a program to support skills development of workers that were displaced from the retail and hospitality industries to the construction industry, specifically focusing on green building techniques. CAGBC leveraged its extensive network of employers to create curricula to quickly upskill these workers. While the approach was ultimately effective in recruiting large numbers of workers into the construction sector, the initial approach found many of the participants were initially lacking in many of the soft skills and basic construction knowledge, preventing them from being able to participate fully in the upskilling process. 

An additional project by ECO Canada further demonstrated why effective skills mapping is so critical to the net-zero transition. The project aimed to identify the skills already possessed by workers in the forestry, oil and gas and mining sectors that can be rapidly upskilled for jobs in building green infrastructure in western Canada. The program successfully mapped out the skill sets that workers already possessed at their current jobs and the ones they would need to transition to a variety of jobs in green infrastructure. The project showed overlaps between these industries at the job level. This ‘skills map’ proved useful in recruiting employers to participate in the training component of the program because they could tangibly see where workers would be improving their skills and how that would translate to them being able to transition into the green building industry. Seventy-five percent of all participants found employment after completing the training program.While adapting green skill training programs to mid-career workers is essential, the Business and Higher Education Roundtable (BHER) sought to understand what could be done to promote the acquisition of green skills before entry into the workforce. The project interviewed university and college professors across Canada with the goal of understanding how PSIs could integrate more green skill training into existing curriculums. They found that often, PSIs are hindered by a lack of agility and many of the stakeholders interviewed described consuming and bureaucratic processes for updating courses or programs. The project found that in spite of the reluctance to change at the organizational level, the interviewees felt green skills fell outside of their area of expertise, and called for increased professional development to support faculty in their personal and professional transition to a low carbon economy and teaching green skills. Solutions were proposed, such as incorporating more work-integrated learning into the curriculum and creating green skills training hubs for students and professors alike.

Why It Matters

Amidst skills and labour shortages, Canada is faced with widespread uncertainty, and rising unemployment in key regions and sectors. In response, the government of Canada has announced a range of efforts, including enabling free trade and labour mobility across Canada, an historic investment in the Canadian Armed Forces and the creation of new offices to expedite projects of national significance and the building of affordable housing at scale. 

These initiatives depend on the availability of skilled and resilient workers, however there are serious questions about whether we will have people with the right skills, in the right place, at the right time. The federal government recently injected billions of dollars into the Canadian skills development and training ecosystem, including additional funds for the Labour Market Development Agreements to support training and upskilling for up to 50,000 workers; a national online training platform to help adults find short-duration training courses by skill type, location, and format; and Workforce Alliances and a Workforce Innovation Fund for at-risk sectors like auto parts, steel and aluminum and those with growth potential such as energy, critical minerals and advanced manufacturing. 

While impressive, these investments are not enough to meet the coming challenges. To build a resilient workforce that is able to respond to and adapt to changing labour markets, whether due to unpredictable disruptions or longer-term transitions, we need a range of training and upskilling pathways that equip people with the skills they need to enter, advance, transition and return to dynamic labour markets. Priorities include:

1. Artificial intelligence. Employers in every sector should be making more investments in skills training on AI for their workers and figuring out how to integrate it into their operations to remain competitive. There are a range of reputable actors operating across the skills and training ecosystem offering high quality instruction with an increasing range of sector-specific use cases. Workers can seek guidance from their employers, unions, sector representatives and professional associations. To support the more widespread use of AI, the Regional Artificial Intelligence Initiative is being delivered by the seven Regional Economic Development Agencies and has a five-year budget of $200 million. The program assists SMEs in critical sectors to make the transition to AI through the acquisition of equipment, technology and upskilling. The program is divided into two streams, only one of which deals with tackling AI-skills gaps at the SME level. More programs that focus on skills development are needed to address the needs of SMEs and workers in critical sectors. 
2. Soft skills. AI holds the potential of allowing workers to dedicate themselves to other, more complex tasks. Critical thinking and writing skills are essential in being able to perform jobs that require an increasingly varied skill set, where competencies in effective communication and negotiation play bigger roles than in the past. Other skill sets like technical, digital and green skills are still highly relevant and deserve our attention too, but soft skills should be built into skill training in these areas, as they are essential to cultivating the resiliency workers need. To further support the development of soft skills, there should be more widespread implementation of soft skills assessments, especially among employers, enabling them to better assess the skills of applicants and workers. 

To build a range of training and upskilling pathways, we need options that account for differences between workers, regions, sectors, and career stages and operate at the individual-level, organizational or firm-level, and system-level. One way to ensure this customization is to take a place-based approach, taking into account the specific needs of local communities and groups, like older workers, recent graduates and newcomers with advanced degrees but lacking in Canadian experience. Examples of how to implement place-based planning for training and upskilling, such as those from the Conference Board of Canada and Smart Prosperity Institute identify how skills needs differ at the local level. Place-based approaches apply to communities in transition to a lower-carbon economy, as well as efforts to help regions and sectors deal with the impacts of the on-going trade war with the United States. Policy makers should consider initiatives that bring together experts in these fields to foster partnerships where local and regional-level labour market information can be leveraged to design responsive solutions to local needs. However, many federal programs only begin after a worker is laid off or has been unemployed for a certain amount of time. While these types of programs should remain in place, we need upskilling programs that take proactive approaches to upskilling workers in vulnerable contexts – regional and sectoral. To meet the challenges ahead, and to make our national ambitions a reality, there is a growing desire among actors in the skills and training ecosystem to identify creative and practical strategies to strengthen the resilience of the Canadian workforce for the short and long-term. To this end, the Future Skills Centre has been convening the Resilient Workforce Working Table – a group of public policy and skills development experts, employers and labour groups, across sectors and regions, collaborating on the development of evidence-informed skills and employment solutions.

What’s Next

The Future Skills Centre continues to invest in skills and training research and innovation projects that generate evidence about critical issues in skills and the future of work. It’s imperative that we have a clear understanding of what works, for whom and in what context, and — equally important –  what does not work and why. Lessons learned from evaluation point us in the right direction – identifying what is promising and worth scaling and replicating, expanding the range of training and upskilling pathways available. New initiatives can leverage this evidence base to reduce implementation timelines and reach scale more quickly. 

The Future Skills Centre will continue to convene partners and stakeholders in the skills and training ecosystem to surface promising ideas and approaches that prepare Canadians for the future of work. 

Projects in this Report

From Shortages to Solutions: Tackling Canada’s Critical Gaps in Healthcare, Trades, and Tech, Conference Board of Canada

Did the pandemic and labour shortages impact job quality? McGill University – Department of Economics

Future of Work Skills Development Program, Greater Fredericton Community Economic Development Agency Inc 

ABC Skills Hub, ABC Life Literacy

Digital Fluency for the Workforce, Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning

Advanced Digital and Professional Training (AdaPT), Diversity Institute, Blueprint ADE & Technation Canada

In Motion & Momentum+, Canadian Career Development Foundation

Supporting Mid-Career Workers in Retail and Meat Processing, United Food and Commercial Workers Union 

Empowering the Northern Workforce: Information Technology Readiness in the North, University College of the North

Success@Work Skills: Preparing Workers and Systems to Navigate Change, Manitoba Institute of Trades and Technology (MITT)

Futureproofing the Food and Beverage Processing Workforce, Food Processing Skills Canada

FUSION: Future Skills Innovation Network for Universities, Concordia University

Micro, but Mighty: Sector-Specific Micro-Credentials for a Recovering Hospitality & Food Service Industry, Hospitality Workers Training Centre

l’Intelligence artificielle et les impacts sur la main d’oeuvre québécoise, Institut du Québec