White Paper

This paper provides advice to the Business Council of Canada on ways to sustain and develop Canada’s labour market information, widely known as LMI. Reliable and useful jobs data is essential to delivering a well-functioning labour market and, more generally, a strong Canadian economy. Recent work by the Business Council and other groups has underlined the wide range of workplace skills required to achieve these goals. In particular, businesses are increasingly looking for workers with multi-faceted competencies—not just technical knowledge, but also so-called “soft skills” such as collaboration and teamwork, problem-solving, relationship building and an openness to change. At its best, labour market information provides clear signals that guide the various players towards the most appropriate choices. It helps identify the skills that business needs, and how they can be developed. LMI is critical in matching workers with jobs (and vice versa), and highlighting gaps between the skills that are available and those in need. The entire labour market reaps these benefits: 1. Students know what education and training to pursue and to what extent their educational credentials will be measured, accredited and transferable. 2. Educators know what programs best contribute to the economy. In that way, they can better understand what to teach, and how to ensure their graduates’ success in the job market. 3. Workers better know where the jobs are and what they require. 4. Immigrants know the opportunities that await them, and the skills they need. 5. Businesses know what skills are available in the workforce and what gaps need to be filled. Proper information helps inform employers and workers of the potential pay-offs of training. 6. Governments know which training programs are needed to fill skills gaps. Better program evaluations help policymakers allocate training resources to obtain the most “bang for the buck”. In this way, employers find workers’ skills more closely aligned to their needs, helping them fill job vacancies, bringing down unemployment, and boosting productivity and output. Canada has no shortage of labour market information. However, the data is fragmented, often hard to access and has many gaps, such as developments in the workplace, the balance of labour demand and supply in local markets, and the longer-term experience of college and university graduates in the labour market, to name just a few.

Canada's Economic Action Plan 2013 recognizes that training is not sufficiently aligned to the skills employers need or to the jobs available, resulting in a skills mismatch that leads to higher unemployment and slower economic growth. Because the Canadian-born work force is aging, baby boomers are retiring, and the number of young workers entering the work force is declining, there is also a growing skills and labour shortage amidst global competition for talent (Grant, 2013; CIC, 2009; Industry Canada & HRSDC, 2008). As skilled Canadian-born workers are becoming increasingly difficult to find, immigrants will play a more significant role in Canada's labour force (Canadian Chamber of Commerce, 2009). Statistics Canada (2008) research indicates that before the middle of the next decade, almost all labour force growth will come from immigration. Forthcoming revisions to the federal selection system for skilled workers (the proposed Expression of Interest (EOI) system) call for an increased role for employers, in part, to facilitate a better match between skilled immigrants and the labour market. Thismodernized' system will be implemented early in 2015. The federal and provincial governments, the community of employers, and immigrant service providers all have roles to play in increasing employers' capacity to recruit, hire and settle immigrants. The federal government's role is critical for employers in respect of making decisions on who is admitted to Canada, including immigrants, temporary foreign workers and foreign students. Thus, federal decisions affect employers' hiring practices in their workplaces and ability to attract, retain and integrate newcomers (IECBC, 2012). As key actors in the immigration system, employers are actively encouraged to hire newcomers in Canada. Yet newcomers face challenges with the lack of recognition of their foreign education and work credentials, which impacts labour market integration. This hard reality is forcing a re-examination of existing policies with a view to achieving earlier labour market integration, including policies aimed at retaining skilled newcomers already in the country. The goal of the knowledge synthesis project is to describe the state of knowledge on the role of employers and employer organizations in bridging newcomers' absorption and integration. The knowledge synthesis project considers the following questions: ï‚· What is the impact of immigration policies on employer behaviour and response to policy measures and, by extension, on labour supply and skills development uptake? ï‚· What is the œvalue proposition for hiring newcomers from employers' perspective? ï‚· How could employers be motivated to play a greater role in social and economic integration, and what strategies might provide them with the tools and resources to do so? ï‚· What is the potential contribution that settlement agencies can make to employers in shaping behavior and assistance to conduct settlement activities? In answering these questions, the project sought to: 1) Identify employer interests and perspectives in bridging gaps between labour market demand for skills and the supply of skills using different immigrant flows to accelerate labour market absorption; 2) Identify the most promising policies and practices, so as to better discern and meet future skills needs; and 3) Compile a knowledge synthesissummary' to inform dialogue between government policy-makers, education and training institutions, researchers, stakeholders, and employers.

In recent years, an increasing amount of attention has been placed in the media around the school to work transition journey of post-secondary students, youth unemployment and underemployment, skills disconnects and mismatches, and the career prospects of graduating students. This attention rarely examines the role of the institutional eco-system or its career service provisions in relation to job or career outcomes. This national CERIC project will establish the importance that publicly funded universities and colleges place on the provision of career development services to their students and highlight particularly impressive models of career service provision across the country. This project will be of interest to career services leadership and colleagues aspiring to leadership positions, as well as university and college senior administrators who wish to ensure high quality and relevant career services .Project objectives: To understand the landscape of career service models across Canada To examine the level of institutional commitment to the provision of career services to its student

The focus of this study is on the potential causes of skill mismatch, the extent of skill mismatch, the socio- demographic make-up of skill mismatch, and the consequences of skill mismatch in terms of earnings as well as employer sponsored adult education/training. A distinction is made between skill mismatch and education mismatch. The analysis is based on the 2003-2007 Adult Literacy and Lifeskills Survey (ALLS) - a dataset similar to the one that is forthcoming from the Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) in 2013. These studies contain direct measures of key foundation skills as well as measures of the use of certain generic skills at work which allow for a direct measure of skill mismatch. The analysis points to the complex ways in which mismatch is generated and the need for an accurate and up to date measure of mismatch, one that reflects the possibilities for skill gain and skill loss over the lifespan, and reflects differences in the quality of qualifications. Two key findings stand out. First, including supply and demand characteristics in an earnings function reveals that labour demand characteristics are more important than labour supply characteristics in explaining earnings differentials. In other words, skills matter for earnings but only if they are required by the job. This has direct implications for understanding better the causes of mismatch on earnings. Second, the skill content of jobs seems to be an even stronger determinant of participation in employer supported adult education/training than educational attainment or literacy proficiency. The influence of demand characteristics thus tends to outweigh the influence of supply characteristics when employers make the decision to support adult education/training. Addressing mismatch thus requires a careful consideration of both the demand and supply sides of the labour market, so as to understand better the variety of factors which may have a negative impact on the effectiveness of skill formation, skill maintenance, and also skill use.

As questions about the future of work loom, Canada stands at a crossroads. Automation and technological advances pose unprecedented opportunities and challenges to workers across Canada’s economy. Both men and women will need to navigate a wide-scale workforce transition, moving from lower-wage and lower-skilled to higher-wage and higher-skilled jobs. For women, who already face inequalities in the workplace, this transition will be pivotal. Building on the McKinsey Global Institute’s 2017 research, The present and future of women at work in Canada looks at how well women and men in Canada are positioned for future jobs and examines existing gender inequalities in the workplace more closely. It also proposes a practical road map for organizations to follow in progressing toward achieving gender equality in the workplace today and in the future.

The “future” of work and learning is not looming in the distance, but a reality of the here and now. Lifelong learning is increasingly seen as the solution to the challenges presented by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, including the rapid shifts in skills needed of the workforce and rise of automation. In practical terms however, lifelong learning as a concept is not well understood, nor is it obvious what an effective system of lifelong learning would actually look like at a national or international scale. This whitepaper shows it requires a multi-sided answer – from creating the learning opportunities to solving for access, cost, responsibility, and individual motivation. It requires a Learning-Integrated Life.

This report builds on the fact that Budget 2019 was the first to be formally developed under Gender-based Analysis Plus - examining how each budget measure would affect a diversity of Canadians, including young people. Through Budget 2019, the Government proposes to support young Canadians by: Supporting more on-the-job learning opportunities for young Canadians who want relevant, real-world work experience, by creating up to 84,000 new student work placements per year by 2023-24, as well as by building partnerships with businesses to support work placements through the modernized Youth Employment Strategy. Making post-secondary education more affordable by lowering the interest rates on Canada Student Loans and Canada Apprentice Loans, and making the six-month grace period after graduation interest-free. Creating opportunities for young Canadians to travel, work or study abroad and gain skills needed to succeed in a global economy. Supporting Indigenous post-secondary education with measures designed to help First Nations, Inuit and Métis students obtain the skills and experiences they need to succeed. Improving access to mentorship, learning resources and start-up financing to help young Canadians bring their business ideas to life and to market through Futurpreneur Canada. Creating meaningful service opportunities through the Canada Service Corps for young Canadians to learn new skills, gain leadership experience and contribute to their communities. Making homeownership more affordable for first-time buyers by introducing the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive, a shared equity mortgage program that would reduce the monthly payments required to own a home. With Budget 2019, the Government is investing in ways to prepare young Canadians for their future, helping them succeed for years to come.

The focus of this report is on current university efforts and recommended future improvements to prepare PhD and master’s students for a fuller range of careers comprising the advanced STEM workforce. The report includes findings from a two-year CGS project (2014-2016), funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF #1413827), to map the landscape of professional development programming at US universities for graduate students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and to identify opportunities to enhance professional development of STEM graduate students, nationally. This project identified promising practices, common challenges, recommendations, and possible next steps toward coordinated improvements to the professional development of STEM graduate students, including PhDs, master’s, and postdoctorates. To advance this goal, we probed answers to a number of questions, such as: How prevalent are formal graduate student professional development programs? Who needs to be involved in developing and delivering these programs? What skills do these programs address, and what skills are missing or underemphasized? Are graduate students participating in these programs? Do faculty support student participation in these programs? What are the biggest challenges facing student engagement in and faculty support for these programs? How do we know this programming is effective? And, what steps do recent graduates, employers, and university leaders think should be taken to improve professional development for graduate students? We sought answers to these questions through three means: 1) a survey of graduate deans, STEM faculty, and staff responsible for professional development programming; 2) in-depth interviews with 10 chief research officers or other senior leaders at organizations from different sectors of the advanced STEM workforce responsible for supervising and hiring STEM PhDs and master’s recipients; and 3) a workshop convened in fall 2015 of national experts, employers from multiple sectors of the advanced STEM workforce, federal funders, graduate deans, and recent PhDs to advance the conversation about challenges and promising solutions and models. While the focus of this project was on formal university professional development programs for graduate students, examples of other types of professional development programs and experiences were frequently cited, ranging from large-scale federal fellowship and internship programs to particular university-industry partnerships. These, as well as the recommendations for stakeholders beyond universities, will be noted throughout the report. While postdoctoral training was not an explicit focus of this project, many of the programs described here serve postdoctoral fellows as well as PhD candidates and master’s students.The report includes discussion of useful tools and resources, as well as of issues that commonly arise in university discussion around professional development. Examples of such issues include: whether this training should be integral or supplemental to the education received in one’s discipline or degree program; how to prepare a diverse group of students for the wide range of STEM- and STEM-related careers and whether this should even be a part of the mission of graduate degree programs in research fields; and whether the emphasis of professional development efforts should be on generic skills, STEM-specific skills, or professional formation, more broadly. As part of this project, CGS identified a large number and wide variety of US university professional development programs for graduate students. An online compendium of these programs is included both as an appendix to the electronic version of this report and in an interactive online format to inform program improvements. The compendium is intended for senior university leaders seeking a reference point for their efforts to develop or enhance existing programs.

The change in jobs and competences (e.g. green economy), the persistence of shortage occupations and an aging workforce are some of the challenges which our labour market faces. Against the background of innovation, trends and shifts in sectors, jobs, functions,¦ Flanders acknowledges the importance of enhancing the competences in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in its policy to respond and anticipate on these current and future trends and needs of the labour market. Different studies and data demonstrate that SMEs are less likely to participate in training and skills development than large firms. Because of their limited scale SMEs often encounter difficulties to train their employees. This is why Flanders (Belgium), next to four other countries, participated in the OECD project on Leveraging Training and Skills Development in SMEs. This study aims to identify the obstacles that SMEs encounter and how they can be overcome. For the study in Flanders the province of East Flanders has been chosen as a case study region on account of its high amount of SMEs that represent a diversity of activities and sectors and of the existence of knowledge clusters (e.g. Flanders Biotech Valley). The quantitative survey, the qualitative interviews with local SMEs and the local workshop on training activities and the skills development in SMEs were all held in this region, contributing to a better understanding of the dynamics in and between SMEs concerning training and skills development. The survey results for East Flanders confirm figures about training in SMEs available in other databases. The SMEs owner opinion about the importance of training for business success is a critical factor in how relevant and important training and skills development is perceived in a SME. The study also demonstrates that SMEs in East Flanders know many spontaneous, informal but well-targeted initiatives. There are signs of œeco-systems, initiated by the entrepreneurs themselves, but not in a systematic way. This indicates the often hidden potential that already exists at the level of SMEs. This study uncovers challenges at two levels. A first and necessary step for further coaching and support in organising training and development in SMEs is by increasing awareness for the importance of training and development for business success among SME's who are currently not scoring high on this topic. Secondly SMEs already concerned with training and development must be further supported and encouraged