White Paper

The British Academy’s Skills project has sought to articulate and celebrate the skills gained through studying arts, humanities and social sciences (AHSS), and to lead a high-level debate about the value of these skills to the individual, to society and to the economy. Despite the uncertain future ahead for the economy and labour market, high-skilled jobs will become increasingly essential to guarantee the UK’s success. Demand is growing for individuals to be equipped with higher level skills which they can deploy in different contexts, whether in a career which may cross many sectors of employment or within a research community which is increasingly interdisciplinary. Improving the UK skills base is critical to increasing productivity and meeting the challenges created by the decision to leave the EU and the constantly changing world of work. The Academy believes the arts, humanities and social sciences provide a rich context for the development of higher level skills and lifelong learning that will allow the workforce of the future to cope, adapt and thrive. The report looks at how these skills are taught, learnt and applied in society, drawing on existing evidence and generating new evidence through commissioned research. It includes recommendations of areas for further action which will set the agenda for the Academy’s programme of work on skills to 2020, but also create a context for developing new partnerships with policy makers, organisations and businesses across the sector.

In fall 2015, Ontario appointed five members to The Premier's Highly Skilled Workforce Expert Panel (Panel) - Chair, Sean Conway, and members Dr. Carol Campbell, Robert Hardt, Alison Loat, and Pradeep Sood (see Appendix E: Expert Panel Member Biographies). Panel members were selected based on their professional experience, knowledge of the business climate, and relationships with a cross-section of stakeholder groups, and on their understanding of employers, the education and public sectors, and issues related to the labour market. The Panel was asked to develop an integrated strategy to help the province's current and future workforce adapt to the demands of a technology-driven knowledge economy - with a goal of doing so by bridging the worlds of skills development, education and training. The Panel was tasked to recommend a clear agenda and key set of directions for government and stakeholders, by August 2016. During the course of its work, the Panel met with a wide range of interested parties - employers, educators, labour, students, worker representatives, training organizations, and community groups, among others. The Panel attended a number of public meetings including the 2016 Summit on Talent and Skills in the New Economy, held in Oshawa in late January 2016. It also reviewed and considered the latest research on best practices in other jurisdictions in Canada and around the world. The culmination of this work is presented in this final strategy document (report). The report has been developed based on the premise that Ontario's workforce has long been its strength, but to compete and succeed in a fast-paced economy, Ontario's workforce must be equipped with skills and opportunities that meet all the needs of the jobs of today and tomorrow. The Panel envisions an Ontario economy in which employers understand that human capital is as valuable and necessary to business and productivity growth as other forms of capital. This would also be an economy where entrepreneurship and innovation are encouraged and nurtured. In the short term, this means that Ontario employers must join their partners in education, labour, government and elsewhere to actively and creatively address regional and sectoral needs in the labour market and better integrate underrepresented groups including older workers, new Canadians, Indigenous peoples, and persons with disabilities, in an economy that is being rapidly transformed by both demographic and technological change.

The research draws attention to racial discrimination in employment in Canada, and discusses the impact on the status of racialized groups in the Canadian labour market. Racial discrimination occurs in Canada in at least two forms, economic discrimination, (when employers make generalized assumptions about the worth of racialized employees), and exclusionary discrimination (when members of a racialized group are not hired, paid equally or promoted regardless of their skills and experience). Recognizing the growth of the racialized population of Canada, the report emphasizes the concern about hierarchical structures affecting the distribution of opportunity in the labour market and argues that this growth in the racialized population makes the issue of racial discrimination one of great importance. If the racialized and immigrant population of Canada do not have equal access to the labour market, Canada will not reap the benefits of the potential of this growing proportion of its population. The research seeks to answer the question whether the position of individuals within the Canadian labour market are determined partly by their racial group affiliation and if racialized men and women in Canada, and immigrants are denied full access to the Canadian labour market because of it. The report uses data largely from the 1996 and 2001 Canadian Census, Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics income data from 1996 and 2001 and Human Resources and Skills Development Canada labour participation data for racialized and non-racialized groups. It compares the workforce participation of racialized groups in different occupational groups. The report also includes findings from interv i e w s with settlement sector officials working with internationally educated professionals in five major Canadian urban centres. Based on an analysis of these data, the report finds that during this census period (1996 to 2001), even though the racialized population of Canada was growing faster than the national average, racialized groups did not advance proportionately in the labour market and continued to have higher rates of unemployment, and experience a double digit income gap. The gap, which is evident between racialized men and women as well, occured regardless of educational attainment, and was identifiable among those who are university educated as well as those with high school education. The report also finds that the labor market is largely segregated by race. Racialized groups are over-represented in low paying occupations such as textile, light manufacturing and service sector jobs, and under-represented in better paying, more secure jobs, such as legislators, supervisors and senior management positions. The report also concluded that the inability for internationally trained professionals and tradespeople to utilize their skills in the Canadian labour market contributes to the income and employment status gap between educated Canadians and similarly educated recent immigrants. The report suggests that governments, employers and regulators of professions and trades, need to systematically address the issue of employment discrimination by working towards eliminating barriers to access to employment. One way to do it is to implement policies and programs that adopt principles of employment equity. Governments need to increase the job pool by creating more well-paying employment, and have better regulation of working conditions of precarious employment sectors.

The future of the ICT sector is exciting. These are unchartered waters open to creativity, innovation and entirely new ways of working, interacting and learning that should appeal to women and men alike. The Institute for the Future1 identifies six drivers most likely to shape the future workforce: longer life spans; a rise in smart devices and systems; advances in computational systems such as sensors and processing power; new multimedia technology; the continuing evolution of social media; and a globally connected world. The ICT sector clearly underpins this future. This summary report surveys the global trends in women’s professional development and employment in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector, and offers a sample of the range of national policies, training programmes and initiatives targeting girls and women as potential students and professionals.

The proportion of adults in Canada with a post-secondary education is the highest among all OECD countries, and the cost of that education is roughly double the OECD average. Yet, more and more of those degree holders fall behind in the earnings scale. The share of Canadian university graduates who make less than half the national median income is the largest among all OECD countries. Sure, on average it pays to get a post-secondary education, but with the education premium narrowing, the number of lowincome outliers is rising. And despite the overwhelming evidence that one's field of study is the most important factor determining labour market outcomes, today's students have not gravitated to more financially advantageous fields in a way that reflects the changing reality of the labour market.

To remain vital and relevant to their customers, most businesses today realize that driving diversity and inclusion throughout their organizations is an imperative. The reasons are clear. Diverse and inclusive teams are able to apply a broader range of knowledge and skills. They're better at recognizing and solving problems that others may overlook. They're more likely to understand the real, often unarticulated needs of the people they design products and services for. What's more, inclusive teams tend to produce better results faster because they operate with higher levels of organizational self-awareness, performance and innovation.

This Concepts and Methods Guide is intended to provide an understanding of the 2012 Canadian Survey on Disability (CSD) with respect to its subject-matter content and its methodological approaches. It is designed to assist CSD data users by serving as a guide to the concepts and questions used in the survey as well as the technical details of survey design, field work and data processing. The guide provides helpful information on how to use and interpret survey results. Its discussion of data quality also allows users to review the strengths and limitations of the data for their particular needs. Chapter 1 of this guide provides an overview of the 2012 CSD by introducing the survey's background and objectives. Chapter 2 discusses the development and testing of the survey's content, explaining the key concepts and definitions used for the survey. This chapter introduces the CSD questionnaire modules as well as data linkages with the National Household Survey (NHS). Chapters 3 to 6 cover important aspects of the survey methodology, from sampling design, through data collection and processing and ending in the creation of final data files. Chapters 7 and 8 cover issues of data quality and caution users against making comparisons with data from previous Participation and Activity Limitations Surveys (PALS). Chapter 9 outlines the survey products that are more widely available to the public, including data tables, a fact sheet and reference material. Appendices provide more detail on questionnaire indicators, the disability severity score, questions used for assessing employment equity, special coding categories for the survey and standard classifications used. A glossary of survey terms is also provided.

Skills gaps cost the Ontario economy up to $24.3 billion in forgone GDP--a result of too many Ontarians not obtaining enough education to find employment in today's economy. Skills gaps are projected to worsen if action is not taken to address them, and fears about a future of œjobs without people and œpeople without jobs are widespread. However, little has been done to examine the true economic costs of Ontario's skills gaps and what can be done to prevent a skills crisis. To address a lack of information, the Conference Board undertook a major study of skills gaps in Ontario, including a survey of over 1,500 Ontario employers.

Productivity growth in Canada (PGC), is the reference publication on productivity in Canada. The objective of this publication is twofold: a) to illustrate the importance of productivity trends on the changes in living standards in Canada and, b) to measure the productivity performance of the Canadian economy in comparison with the United States, in particular. PGC includes articles on productivity and related issues and serves as a vehicle to understanding the sources underlying economic growth in Canada.