White Paper

Among the challenges facing Canada’s economy in 2016, tackling vulnerabilities in labour markets will be essential to the prosperity of Canadians. The nation’s labour markets are being transformed by structural forces of globalization, technical change and aging demographics, while being buffeted by cyclical factors like the recurring boom-bust in commodity prices. These forces have displaced many workers and have led to persistent and – amid the current commodity price shock – growing slack in the labour market. Moreover, the structural trends are raising demand for high-skilled positions relative to middle- and low-skill jobs. Questions arise about whether the composition of labour supply is keeping pace with the changing times. In this brief, I address four key policy priorities to reduce labour market vulnerabilities: (i) better support for displaced workers, (ii) improving labour market information, (iii) increasing skills development for the workers of today and tomorrow, and (iv) removing barriers to success for marginalized or underutilized workers.

Canada’s policy makers should focus on four priorities to spur growth in Canada’s economy, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Job One is Jobs: Workers Need Better Policy Support and Stronger Skills,” author Craig Alexander outlines the key policy priorities that will reduce Canada’s labour market vulnerabilities.

The purpose of this applied dissertation study was to create an intervention to assist in helping virtual team members develop interpersonal relationships necessary for successful project achievement and thus, the enhancement of organizational effectiveness. A void in the literature and research studies prompted the design of a 2-day workshop and its evaluation by expert reviewers. Personal experience in virtual teams and the need apparent in governmental agencies in California precipitated the motivation for the design. The following research question formed the basis of the research: Will an intervention, designed as a workshop, to assist virtual team members in building interpersonal relationships enhance the effectiveness of virtual teams? A formative evaluation method was utilized to collect data in order to modify the training design prior to considering a pilot workshop. Thirty-six evaluators were selected and invited to evaluate the design, each possessing experience and knowledge of virtual teams, including backgrounds in information technology, training and development, management experience, and or organization development. An evaluator packet was provided to the evaluators that included a formal invitation, a summary of the workshop and a detailed design. A mixed methodology for gathering quantitative and qualitative data was utilized using Qualtrics, a third-party search engine, for gathering the data. A total of 18 evaluators (50%) completed a 16-question survey by the deadline utilizing a Likert-type scale and by providing written comments for each question. The results indicated the design would meet the objectives, be beneficial to organizations, and that the training supported evaluators’ perception of what they felt was needed for geographically dispersed teams. The evaluators confirmed the validity of the topics, activities, flow of the design, length, pace and method of delivery. The major themes that emerged from the data included (a) a need for training on the specific technology used by virtual teams, (b) the importance of introspection by each individual member of the team, (c) the importance of developing interpersonal dynamics and relationships, (d) the need for the development of virtual team members and its resulting benefit to the organization, and (e) support for the design, its content, activities, pace and flow.

We believe that the following five interventions can help boost Canada’s innovation agenda: 1. Catalyze the formation of business-led “innovation marketplaces” in sectors and technologies where Canada has momentum and where market participants need new solutions. 2. Create additional pools of growth capital to ensure promising companies have sufficient capital to scale up and access to investors who can provide advice and other value-added support. 3. Modify our government procurement policy to incorporate strategic procurement and innovation as a key objective. A shift from a requirements-focused to a value-based procurement system will facilitate the government and other public-sector players becoming important first customers, to test and validate Canadian innovative solutions. 4. Review and rationalize government innovation programs, then scale up those that have proven impact. Review regulatory barriers and remove or re-tool those that would impede development of priority sectors and innovation marketplaces. 5. Expedite entry for top talent through immigration policy that helps reduce a talent shortfall for high growth companies, and invigorate the talent pool through a focused innovation talent strategy and the FutureSkills Canada program.

Since the 1950s, rapid growth has allowed a significant number of countries to reach middle-income status; yet, very few have made the additional leap needed to become high-income economies. Rather, many developing countries have become caught in what has been called a middle-income trap, characterized by a sharp deceleration in growth and in the pace of productivity increases. Drawing on the findings of a recently released working paper (Agenor and Canuto 2012), as well as a growing body of research on growth slowdowns, this note provides an analytical characterization of 'middle-income traps' as stable, low-growth economic equilibrium where talent is misallocated, and innovation stagnates. To counteract middle-income traps, there are a number of public policies that governments can pursue, such as improving access to advanced infrastructure, enhancing the protection of property rights, and reforming labor markets to reduce rigidities all implemented within a context where technological learning and research and development (R&D) are central to enhancing innovation. Such policies not only explain why some economies particularly in East Asia were able to avoid the middle-income trap but are also instructive for other developing countries seeking to move up the income ladder and reach high-income status.

This Council took as its key metric for success the goal of delivering an additional $15,000 in median household income above current projections by 2030. Realizing such an ambitious aspiration, amid rapid economic and societal change, will require focused, persistent, and concerted action. It will also require continued progress monitoring so that ineffective programs can be stopped. This Council believes that bold and mutually reinforcing initiatives like the ones released today and last October can help reset our country’s economic trajectory and help us achieve the inclusive growth that will provide the strongest foundation for our nation’s future prosperity.

Canada’s economic growth over the past 50 years was fuelled largely by growth in labour force participation rates. In 2015, Canada had one of the highest labour force participation rates among OECD countries. While it is true that our population is now aging and that the workforce will no longer grow at the pace, we have become accustomed to, Canada still has significant untapped labour force potential given the underrepresentation of a number of demographic groups. Finding ways to include more of these Canadians in the labour force would improve their quality of life and their chances of success in the economy. This would deliver on the promise of inclusive growth in a way that also improves the wider economy’s prospects and makes it less likely that Canada’s social safety net becomes overstretched. The Council has identified four demographic groups where an increase in participation to “best-in-class” levels could have a significant impact on the economy: Indigenous Peoples, lower-income Canadians, women with young children, and Canadians over the age of 55. We are keen to see action from the federal government to spur inclusive growth by increasing participation rates among these four over the coming years. The four groups addressed here are not meant to be an exhaustive list. Several other groups face barriers to participation, such as people with disabilities, recent immigrants, and youth who are not in education, employment, or training (NEET). Bringing more members of these groups into jobs is also very important, but we have focused attention on the groups for which increased participation in the workforce will have the greatest economic impact, since we believe that the better the economy performs, the greater the opportunity for all Canadians. This memorandum is not a specific recommendation of one policy approach over another; it is rather a collection of broad recommendations to aid policy makers to explore the existing policy landscape in depth, and to determine ways of removing barriers to employment. In some cases, the appropriate response might be new policy, while in others the government might simply need to “get out of the way”, for example by eliminating distortions created by existing policies that discourage employment. The potential approaches we outline here are only examples and do not constitute an exhaustive list of policy options. Further, it is important to note that policy makers are not the only actors in this space—employers, both private and public, have a role to play in establishing the conditions for more inclusive participation in the workforce.

The Advisory Council’s final wave of recommendations for Canada’s growth agenda for skills development. Canada’s skills development infrastructure is simply not equipped to meet the challenges that lie ahead. Our system today rests primarily on two pillars. The first one supports the development of skills before people enter the workforce, through K-12 and post-secondary education. The second pillar supports individuals when they leave the workforce, by providing assistance to the unemployed and the retired. That leaves a large gap in institutional support and training during Canadians’ most productive years—and it is in this phase that workers will be most affected by the labour market turmoil. While our system has served us well in a relatively stable environment to date, it is not set up to address the coming labour-market disruptions. Canada urgently needs a third pillar that focuses on supporting working adults

To accomplish such an ambitious mission, the FutureSkills Lab will have three core functions. 1. Support innovative approaches to skills development: Solicit, select, and co-finance innovative pilot programs in skills and competency development that address identified gaps among workers, post- secondary students, and youth 2. Identify and suggest new sources of skills information: Gather labour market signals of skill needs by amassing a portfolio of pilot proposals, support innovative labour market information initiatives focused on employer expectations, use web-based sources to extract and synthesize emerging labour market trends, and draw links between credentials and skills 3. Define skills objectives and inform governments on skills programming: Rigorously measure outcomes of forward-looking and targeted training programs and skills information initiatives, identify and disseminate best practices broadly to education and training stakeholders across Canada, and determine a set of skills objectives for the future. Should stakeholders choose to opt in, these objectives can then help inform the more than $17 billion in annual public spending on skills and training programs, the work of organizations that generate and analyze Canadian labour market information, and researchers and practitioners directly involved with training and education programs