White Paper

This paper places the competencies to be measured by the OECD’s Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) in the context of the technological developments which are reshaping the nature of the workplace and work in the 21st century. The largest technological force currently shaping work is the computer. Computers are faster and less expensive than people in performing some workplace tasks and much weaker than people in performing other tasks. On the basis of an understanding of the kinds of work computers do well, it is possible to describe the work that will remain for people in the future, the skills that work requires and the way that computers can assist people in performing that work. The paper argues that a technology-rich workplace requires foundational skills including numeracy and literacy (both to be tested in PIAAC), advanced problem-solving skills or Expert Thinking (similar to the construct of Problem Solving in Technology-Rich Environments to be tested in PIAAC) and advanced communication skills or Complex Communication (not being tested in PIAAC).

Canadians are among the best-educated people on the planet. But are they getting the education they need — particularly in the fields of social sciences and humanities — to maximize their employment prospects in today's fast-changing workplace? This report explores the level of the so-called "skills gap" and identifies issues and solutions to equip university graduates with the tools to transition from student to employee. Key takeaways; 40% percent of social sciences and humanities undergraduates return to school within a year of graduating, 15% of them enrolling in community college. The sheer number of initiatives underway attests to the fact that universities are clearly interested in better responding to student and employer need, though efforts to date are making progress, but as our latest report shows, there is more that needs to be done.

The Condition of Work Readiness in the United States highlights levels of work readiness for various subgroups of an estimated 4 million ACT WorkKeys examinees in the United States and provides ACT Work Readiness Standards and Benchmarks for targeted occupations over the next 8-10 years. Data are presented for ACT WorkKeys examinees from 2006-2011 for three cognitive assessments: Reading for Information, Applied Mathematics, and Locating Information. These three skills have been consistently identified as important for success in a broad range of jobs, making them œessential foundational skills. Occupational profiles in the ACT JobPro® database were used to determine work readiness benchmarks for three selected groups of targeted occupations (those projected to be in demand, growing, and high paying) and grouped into three education categories (high, middle, and low). The report investigated the assumption that individuals with a given level of education have the requisite skills for occupations requiring that level of education. A gap analysis was conducted to compare examinees by education group for occupations requiring similar levels of education for entry into employment. œSkills gap was defined as a gap between the skills needed for a job requiring a given level of education versus those skills possessed by workers with that level of education.

Ontario faces a dual challenge: automation technologies have the potential to improve productivity and competitiveness, and to generate more jobs and prosperity over the long term, yet many Ontario firms have hesitated to invest. At the same time, when firms adopt automation technologies, the disruption to jobs and tasks--and thus to workers' income and well-being--can be significant. For Ontario firms and workers to thrive in the age of automation, we need to find ways to increase firms' lagging adoption of automation technologies, while also equipping workers with skills and opportunities to adapt and thrive in a changing labour market. This report provides a grounded and detailed picture of the extent and nature of automation trends in Ontario and identifies strategies to help public, private and nonprofit sector actors navigate this dual challenge. Rapid technological advances, particularly in artificial intelligence (AI), have heightened concerns about automation and the potential for job loss. These concerns have prompted a number of studies--each pointing to a large proportion of jobs or tasks that are susceptible to automation. While useful in highlighting an issue that deserves attention, the studies tend to overemphasize the risks of automation. First, most focus on whole economies, overlooking how impacts will vary by region, sector, firm and worker. Second, they tend to focus narrowly on jobs and tasks that could be automated by existing and emerging technologies in theory, and do not analyze the many factors that affect firms' decisions to automate and thus the actual rate of automation in the economy. Finally, these approaches tend to focus more on the potential for automation to eliminate jobs or tasks, and less on the potential to augment or create jobs and enhance firm productivity and competitiveness. To fill these gaps in understanding, this report offers a more granular and nuanced understanding of automation in the Ontario context, and of the dual challenge it presents. It closely examines two sectors that are broadly representative of Ontario-wide trends--manufacturing, and finance and insurance--and explores the experiences and perceptions of Ontarians from different communities. The analysis draws on relevant data, existing literature, interviews with over 50 stakeholders from the two sectors, and engagement of over 300 Ontarians through interviews, public consultations and an online survey. This report is also informed by the guidance offered by an Expert Advisory Panel of 14 individuals with academic, technological, and industry expertise.

This report illustrates the need for urgent attention to be paid to this issue. It will start by describing some of the technological trends that are reshaping the future of work, and the challenges and opportunities they present for youth. It will explain the impact of these trends on the skills and experience that will be increasingly demanded of youth entering the workforce. Finally, it will outline potential avenues that can be explored to help ensure Canada's youth are well-positioned to thrive and prosper in the future.

the purpose of this report is to understand the effects that automation can have on our labour force. Overall we found that nearly 42 percent of the Canadian labour force is at a high risk of being aected by automation in the next decade or two. Individuals in these occupations earn less and are less educated than the rest of the Canadian labour force. While the literature suggests that these occupations may not necessarily be lost, we also discovered that major job restructuring will likely occur as a result of new technology. Using a different methodology, we found that nearly 42 percent of the tasks that Canadians are currently paid to do can be automated using existing technology. But the data does not paint an entirely negative picture. Using the Canadian Occupation Projection System (COPS), we found that the occupations with the lowest risk of being affected by automation are projected to produce nearly 712,000 net new jobs between 2014 and 2024. As with any type of forecasting exercise, there are always going to be uncertainties associated with the predictions. However, we do hope that this study provides a tool to help guide future decision-making.

Key findings: One of the top labour market information needs as reported by Canadians is the skill requirements of jobs. As jobs evolve alongside technological innovations, workers will need to hold the right skills to be successful. Analyzing the more than 400,000 paid job vacancies posted on LinkedIn in 2018 across 10 major Canadian cities reveals that the three top skill groups demanded by employers on LinkedIn are: Business Management, Leadership and Oral Communication. The most frequently advertised job titles across the 10 cities include Customer Service Specialist, Project Manager, Retail Salesperson, Salesperson, and Software Developer.

Key Findings: Research points to long-standing ambiguity over the notion of skills and how they are defined. Skills shortages have traditionally been measured by estimating the supply and demand shifts of certain œskill proxies, such as educational qualifications, fields of study, and occupations; however, this approach does not adequately depict the diverse and rapidly changing skill needs of the Canadian economy. Technical advances in data analysis (i.e., machine learning, natural language processing, and web scraping) facilitate the use of data from online job postings for gaining insight into skills shortages. Observing the frequency, content, and duration of these postings, as well as job seeker profiles provides an opportunity to improve our understanding of the changing nature of jobs. The availability of online data, combined with a Canadian skills and competency taxonomy, creates an opportunity to map skills to the Canadian National Occupational Classification (NOC) system, which will contribute to ensuring that Canadians have the right skills to succeed.