White Paper

Automation, digitization, and trade have dramatically reshaped how firms organize, operate, and compete over the past couple of decades, and these changes have implications for the future of work. Academic research is only just beginning to understand how these changes affect workers, incentives to create new firms and innovations, and impact local and regional economies.

The Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is a cyclical, large-scale study that was developed under the auspices of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). As part of the first cycle of data collection, referred to as PIAAC Cycle 1, adults were surveyed in 24 participating countries in 2012, 9 additional countries in 2014, and 5 more countries in 2017. For a list of the countries that participated in PIAAC Cycle 1, please visit Participating Countries. Data collection for PIAAC Cycle 2 will begin in 33 countries in 2021.

There is growing recognition that global competencies promote deeper learning by equipping students with the necessary tools to adapt to diverse situations and become lifelong learners. These key competencies can be interdependent and leveraged in a variety of situations and across disciplines; moreover, they contribute to educational attainment, relationships, employment, health, and well-being outcomes. After all, there is an increasing number of jobs requiring both discipline-specific skills (cognitive competencies) and people skills and self-knowledge (interpersonal and intrapersonal competencies). Additionally, the development of global competencies increases understanding of the global economic, social, political, technological and environmental forces that transcend national boundaries. This understanding is imperative in preparing students to live, work and contribute to a world that is increasingly interdependent.

This issue brief describes the ways in which competition between firms can benefit consumers, workers, entrepreneurs, small businesses and the economy more generally, and also describes how these benefits can be lost when competition is impaired by firms’ actions or government policies. Several indicators suggest that competition may be decreasing in many economic sectors, including the decades-long decline in new business formation and increases in industry-specific measures of concentration. Recent data also show that returns may have risen for the most profitable firms. To the extent that profit rates exceed firms’ cost of capital— which may be suggested by the rising spread on the return to invested capital relative to Treasury bonds— they may reflect economic rents, which are returns to the factors of production in excess of what would be necessary to keep them in operation. Such rents may divert resources from consumers, distort investment and employment decisions, and encourage firms to engage in wasteful rent-seeking activities.

The Economic Report of the President is an annual report written by the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers. An important vehicle for presenting the Administration’s domestic and international economic policies, it provides an overview of the nation's economic progress with text and extensive data appendices.

In 2013, the Council of Atlantic Ministers of Education and Training (CAMET) launched a review of the Atlantic Canada Essential Graduation Learnings, the 1995 framework for curriculum development endorsed by the four Atlantic Provinces. A committee representing each province was formed to ensure the framework, guiding expectations for completion of public education, responded to the changing demands of work and life in the 21st century.

Governments tackling the future of work should make it easier for low- income kids to become skilled workers. Access to the Canada Learning Bond is key.

This 14th edition of the Learning and Development Outlook has two main objectives: to provide L&D leaders and practitioners with data about the current state of learning programs, practices, and expenditures across Canada; and to provide an analysis of the current state of learning in organizations. The report summarizes the results of the Learning and Development Outlook survey sent during the fall of 2016 and winter of 2017. A total of 127 organizations completed the survey. A key finding that emerged from the responses is that organizations with strong learning cultures invest more in their learning and development and are realizing greater returns for their investment. Largely, they are guided by strong leadership that places a high priority on employee engagement and communication.

Technical advancement is predicted to impact the workforce and will require the reskilling of many. This study sought to understand the preparations large enterprises are taking to prepare their workforce and their workplace for the impact of advanced technologies. Specifically, this paper explored the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that impact the Chief Learning Officer’s (CLOs) ability to prepare their workforce for the future. Clark and Estes’ (2008) gap analysis model influence the conceptual and methodological framework for the study along with the Burke-Litwin (1992) model for organizational change. Interviews were conducted with seven CLOs at large enterprises. The research explored the CLOs’ knowledge and motivation related to creating a leadership and development strategy to develop their workforce, considering their organizations’ adoption of advanced technologies. The data suggested CLOs are knowledgeable and motivated about preparing their workforce for the future of work. The research also explored how organizational culture and context supported or hindered CLO knowledge and motivation. The data suggested that indeed organizational cultural models and organizational cultural settings impact the CLOs’ ability to reach their goals. Recommendations for developing a transformational adult learning program for CLOs was proposed. The program design, metrics and critical behaviors needed to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed program was influenced by Kirkpatrick model by also took an anagogical approach. The practices identified supported the continued development of knowledge, motivation and organizational cultures to help prepare large enterprises’ workforce and workplace for the impact of advanced technologies.