White Paper

Digitalisation, globalisation, demographic shifts and other changes in work organisation are constantly reshaping skill needs. This can lead to persistent skill shortages and mismatch which are costly for individuals, firms and society in terms of lost wages and lower productivity and growth. These costs can be reduced through better assessment and anticipation of changing skill needs and by improving the responsiveness of skills development to these changes. This report identifies effective strategies for improving labour market information on skill needs and ensuring that this information is used effectively to develop the right skills. It provides a comparative assessment of practices across 29 countries in the following areas: i) the collection of information on existing and future skill needs; ii) the use of this information to guide skill development policies in the areas of labour, education and migration; and iii) governance arrangements to ensure good coordination among the key stakeholders in the collection and use of skill needs information.

Education at a Glance is the authoritative source for information on the state of education around the world. It provides key information on the output of educational institutions; the impact of learning across countries; the financial and human resources invested in education; access, participation and progression in education; and the learning environment and organisation of schools. The 2016 edition introduces a new indicator on the completion rate of tertiary students and another one on school leaders. It provides more trend data and analysis on diverse topics, such as: teachers’ salaries; graduation rates; expenditure on education; enrolment rates; young adults who are neither employed nor in education or training; class size; and teaching hours. The publication examines gender imbalance in education and the profile of students who attend, and graduate from, vocational education.

Persistently high debt ratios in advanced economies and emerging fragilities in the developing world cast clouds on the global fiscal landscape. In advanced economies, with narrowing budget deficits, the average public debt ratio is expected to stabilize in 2013–14—but it will be at a historic peak. At the same time, fiscal vulnerabilities are on the rise in emerging market economies and low-income countries—on the back, in emerging market economies, of heightened financial volatility and downward revisions to potential growth, and in low-income countries, of possible shortfalls in commodity prices and aid. Strengthening fiscal balances and buttressing confidence thus remain at the top of the policy agenda. Against that backdrop, this issue explores whether and how tax reform can help strengthen public finances. Taxation is always a sensitive topic and is now more than ever at the center of policy debates around the world. Can countries tax more, better, more fairly? Results reported in this issue show that the scope to raise more revenue is limited in many advanced economies and, where tax ratios are already high, the bulk of the necessary adjustment will have to fall on spending. In emerging market economies and low-income countries, where the potential for raising revenue is often substantial, improving compliance remains a central challenge.

The availability of consumer apps continues to grow, particularly in the area of healthcare apps. Commonly referred to as mHealth apps, these apps assist consumers in self-management of overall wellness, disease prevention and disease management. Recognition of the importance of patients taking an active and informed role in their own healthcare has fueled this growth. The proliferation of smart phones and consumer interest in taking a more active role in their health, presents a significant opportunity to leverage mHealth apps in innovative ways. This is especially true as improvements are made in the connectivity aspects of mHealth apps both in how data is compiled and how it is connected back to healthcare providers. This report provides an update to the analysis of the mHealth app landscape published by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics in 2013. The primary focus of this report is on the consumer or patient use of mHealth apps. The mHealth app availability and usage information is focused on apps available to the general public that support everyday healthcare management in conjunction with their healthcare provider. While the information is agnostic to geographic boundaries, this report is primarily focused on the U.S. healthcare system.

This paper identifies some of the challenges currently preventing Ontario from creating a highly skilled workforce and makes recommendations on what actions could be taken to help develop one. It recommends that to achieve this goal, businesses, and the government must work together. It makes recommendations in three areas: 1. Aim our students in the right direction, by providing accurate labour market information and ensuring students are properly supported so they can make informed decisions; 2. Strengthen our education and training programs, including workplace training to ensure our existing workforce has the skills required to succeed in the new economy; and, 3. Improve the foreign credential recognition framework, to help businesses make the best use of foreign trained professionals. The paper builds off of the CanadaWorks 2025 report the HRPA prepared with Deliotte, which laid out alternative future scenarios. The scenarios - The Lost Decade, Unsustainable Prosperity and The Northern Tiger - created fulsome pictures of the Canadian workplace and workforce with respect to the labour market, workplace productivity, changes to the employment contract, and the organization of work. By following the recommendations of this paper, we can ensure Ontario does not move towards the “lost decade” scenario. The recommendations laid out below are based upon a scan of various studies, as well as, actions taken by other jurisdictions, and the findings of a survey of 525 of the HRPA’s members, conducted online from April 18-26th, 2016. The paper has a special emphasis on what human resource professionals can do to help in these areas.

Millenials, specifically workers who were born between 1980 and 1995, are probably one of the most discussed and debated age groups. They are often said to be disloyal, highly self-interested, and, by some, even lazy. Yet, are these characterizations accurate, and should employers care? Ontario’s economy is changing at a rapid pace and is dramatically different than it was even a few short years ago. In today’s highly competitive global marketplace, talent is mobile and competition for workers between jurisdictions, as well as organizations, is fierce. A recent world-wide survey of CEOs by Price Waterhouse Cooper (PwC) highlighted that retention of Millennials is one of their largest issues. 1 Millennial workers are the future of all Canadian businesses. Today, Millennials represent the largest age cohort in the Canadian workplace 2, and are steadily moving past entry-level jobs, and into leadership roles. Studies in the United States show that Millennials are now the largest living generation, larger than even the Baby Boomers3, and that trend continues in Canada. According to Statistics Canada projections compiled by Environics Analytics, the Canadian Millennial population will grow past 11 million people, while the next largest generation, Baby Boomers, continues to decline.4 It is therefore critical for the human resource industry to understand Millennials – what defines them, how to attract them, retain them, and integrate them into our organizations. With this goal in mind the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA) has undertaken to help its Members understand the Millennial generation by exploring what Millennials look for from their employers and how they can be better transitioned into a new workplace. The recommendations made in this report are based on a literature review of primarily quantitative studies conducted on these issues, as well as a survey of 1,026 HRPA Members, which was conducted online from September 14, 2016 to September 28, 2016.

U.S. manufacturing experienced a precipitous and historically unprecedented decline in employment in the 2000s. Many economists and other analysts—pointing to decades of statistics showing that manufacturing real (inflation-adjusted) output growth has largely kept pace with private sector real output growth, that productivity growth has been much higher, and that the sector’s share of aggregate employment has been declining—argue that manufacturing’s job losses are largely the result of productivity growth (assumed to reflect automation) and are part of a long-term trend. Since the 1980s, however, the apparently robust growth in manufacturing real output and productivity have been driven by a relatively small industry—computer and electronic products, whose extraordinary performance reflects the way statistical agencies account for rapid product improvements in the industry. Without the computer industry, there is no prima facie evidence that productivity caused manufacturing’s relative and absolute employment decline. This paper discusses interpreting labor productivity statistics, which capture many factors besides automation, and cautions against using descriptive evidence to draw causal inferences. It also reviews the research literature to date, which finds that trade significantly contributed to the collapse of manufacturing employment in the 2000s but finds little evidence of a causal link to automation.

In this report we take a hard look at the organization of government. Why? To provide a compelling alternative to legacy structures — to something dramatically more flexible and responsive. Rigid hierarchies and tightly defined job descriptions may have suited the past. But today, citizen expectations are more pervasive and matching resources to suit mission more imperative.

The way we interact, the way we make decisions and the way we learn are all being shaped and influenced by the rapidly developing and increasingly accessible computing technology around us. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the use and adoption of AI. The ever-expanding presence of AI in our daily lives evokes a complex emotional response, from fascination and curiosity to fear and anxiety. But are these concerns justified, given the vast array of positive use cases of AI that will define the future? For employees and customers, what are the benefits that can be harnessed from AI for their advantage and, quite possibly, for the wider world? For organizations, especially those in the midst of considering their own adoption of AI, the challenge lies in balancing risk and reward across both the workforce and the operations of the business.