White Paper

This summary research report1 explores the value of literacy and essential skills (LES) for workers and better quantifies the benefits of training. LES as a related and causal factor for higher wages in the labour market is investigated. Results for the general population are examined, in addition to sub-groups such as journeypersons, Aboriginal peoples, immigrants and persons with disabilities. Results are drawn from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), the 2006 census and various versions of the National Graduate Survey (NGS). Across all three data sets, the research highlights earnings outcomes as the main labour market benefit of LES. These positive research findings contribute to an evidence-based body of knowledge about the importance of LES and will inform future workplace training policies and outreach about the business case for LES training

This report describes experiential learning opportunities in high school for students interested in learning about the skilled trades. Examples of Indigenous-focused initiatives and the impacts on student outcome are described.

Job training is one of the most important aspects of skill formation and human capital accumulation. In this study we use longitudinal Canadian linked employer-employee data to examine whether white/visible minority immigrants and Canadian-born experience different opportunities in two well-defined measures of firm-sponsored training: on-the-job training and classroom training. While we find no differences in on-the-job training between different groups, our results suggest that visible minority immigrants are significantly less likely to receive classroom training, and receive fewer and shorter classroom training courses, an experience that is not shared by white immigrants. For male visible minority immigrants, these gaps are entirely driven by their differential sorting into workplaces with less training opportunities. For their female counterparts however, they are mainly driven by differences that emerge within workplaces. We find no evidence that years spent in Canada or education level can appreciably reduce these gaps. Accounting for potential differences in career paths and hierarchical level also fails to explain these differences. We find however that these gaps are only experienced by visible minority immigrants who work in the for-profit sector, with those in the non-profit sector experiencing positive or no gaps in training. Finally, we show that other poor labor market outcomes of visible minority immigrants, including their wages and promotion opportunities, stem in part from these training gaps.

The Canadian Apprenticeship Forum – Forum canadien sur l'apprentissage (CAF-FCA) wanted to understand what today’s youth, especially diverse youth, are thinking about skilled trades careers. This report integrates feedback from youth workshop participants (aged 14 to 25) (N=232) and their influencers, who completed an online survey (N=41)

Given the time and money invested in higher education by students, parents and governments, there is considerable interest in the economic outcomes of postsecondary graduates. Most assessments of recent graduates have focused on their short-term, early labour market results. As new entrants to the labour force, recent postsecondary graduates may be particularly vulnerable to the economic cycle. Consequently, comparisons of short-term outcomes across graduating cohorts may be highly dependent on prevailing economic conditions and may not reflect the longer-term returns on investments. This is the first study to compare the long-term labour market outcomes of two cohorts of young postsecondary graduates using linked census and tax data. Specifically, graduates who were 26 to 35 years old in 1991 were followed from 1991 to 2005 (when they were 40 to 49 years old) and compared with a similarly aged 2001 cohort, which was followed from 2001 to 2015.The results suggest that median cumulative earnings were higher among members of the more recent cohort of male and female postsecondary graduates. Increases were observed across all postsecondary levels and across most major disciplines where sample sizes were large enough to permit analysis. Also, no discipline registered a decline in cumulative earnings. Although the economic conditions faced by the 2001 cohort over the 15-year study period were generally more favourable, this cohort also registered higher earnings than the 1991 cohort during the latter portion of the period (i.e., when the 2001 cohort was faced with an economic recession). Furthermore, the initial labour market conditions upon graduation (an important determinant of career earnings) were similar for both cohorts. The improvements in long-term earnings for postsecondary graduates are important in light of the significant increase in the number of graduates over the period. However, the results also indicate that the number of years of union membership declined or remained steady across cohorts of male and female postsecondary graduates. Furthermore, while women with postsecondary qualifications registered increases in the number of years of employer-sponsored pension plan coverage, their male counterparts experienced mixed results depending on their level of postsecondary studies.

In this report we focus on the way technology is reshaping work. However we must integrate this insight with a broader understanding of the important influences of a globalising world, unprecedented slowing of growth, ageing across the working age population globally and an uncertain political and economic outlook. These, along with technology, are reshaping both labour supply and demand, and the content, structure and location of work.

Key Points; Accounting for nondegree credentials and training—sub-baccalaureate certificates, industry certifications, professional licenses, work-experience programs, and apprenticeships—provides a more complete portrait of credential and skills attainment than regular measures of educational attainment do. Thirty-two percent of the working class—defined as adults 25–64 with a high school degree but no bachelor’s degree and who reported incomes between $20,000 and $40,000—has a license, certification, or certificate. Surprisingly, nondegree credentials in health care are more common than credentials in the trades for working-class credential-holding adults, while credentials in the trades are more prevalent for upper-income credential-holding adults. This suggests that credentials in the trades may present viable pathways to higher earnings. Nondegree credentials and work-experience programs are often presented as alternatives to postsecondary education. However, these credentials and programs supplement college degrees for higher-educated adults more often than serving as alternatives to degrees for less-educated adults.

This joint OECD-ILO report provides a comparative analysis of case studies focusing on improving skills use in the workplace across eight countries. The examples provide insights into the practical ways in which employers interact with government services and policies at the local level. They highlight the need to build policy coherence across employment, skills, economic development and innovation policies, and underline the importance of ensuring that skills utilisation is built into policy development thinking and implementation. Skills utilisation concerns the extent to which skills are effectively applied in the workplace to maximise workplace and individual performance. It involves a mix of policies including work organisation, job design, technology adaptation, innovation, employee-employer relations, human resource development practices and business-product market strategies. It is often at the local level that the interface of these factors can best be addressed.

The report highlights the emergence of a new global skills gap where gender, class, geography and age can have a huge impact on whether a person is able to harness new technologies or not. It also presents strategies for ensuring all groups of people can develop these skills.