White Paper

How automation affects the US workforce is largely a question of which jobs and activities can be most easily automated. At a macro level, change will take time to occur. It’s not likely that a million truck drivers will be thrown out of work in the next few years, because the technologies to automate these roles have not matured, nor have companies developed business cases to use them. But at the micro level, change can happen quickly as individual workers are displaced—which is more likely in some types of roles than in others. The kinds of support activities performed by service workers, administrative-support workers, operatives, laborers, and helpers are, not surprisingly, more easily automated than are the directive activities performed by executives, professionals, technicians, and sales and craft workers. And that leaves African Americans especially vulnerable. In fact, when we overlaid racial representation over automation assessments of nearly 2,000 different detailed work activities in more than 800 occupations, we found that African American workers are disproportionately concentrated in the kinds of support roles most likely to be affected. Moreover, we found that efforts to ease a general workforce transition into an automated future could wind up worsening existing racial disparities in income, opportunity, and wealth

A healthy manufacturing sector is critical to Canada’s long-term economic prosperity. However, chronic labour and skills shortages are impeding the sector’s ability to grow and remain globally competitive. In Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters’ (CME) 2016 Management Issues Survey, businesses stated that attracting and retaining skilled labour was their top challenge. Nearly 40 per cent of respondents reported that they currently face labour and/or skills shortages, and nearly 60 per cent anticipated such shortages within the next five years. These shortages are having a major impact on Canadian manufacturers. Nearly 20 per cent of businesses said that a lack of workers is curbing business growth and new product development. They are also foregoing production opportunities as a result. More concerning still, if these issues are left unaddressed, 16 per cent of businesses stated that they will shift production and investment outside of Canada. Women represent a vast and relatively untapped resource that offers a solution to this problem. There are 8.6 million women working in Canada. They make up about 48 per cent of the Canadian workforce, but only 28 per cent of jobs in manufacturing. They hold less than five per cent of jobs in some production-related occupations.

The labour market is increasingly demanding higher skill levels in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). And, the market is paying women above-average wages in these fields. It will be difficult to narrow the overall gender wage gap if women fail to make stronger inroads into STEM fields. Aptitude differentials in math among girls and boys as the source of women underrepresentation in STEM has been debunked many times over. The causes are numerous and complex but include marginalization within educational and corporate institutions. Within the workplace, employers need to revisit whether ongoing marginalization is present. Women who acquire a degree in STEM are disproportionately slotted into lower paying technical roles.

Young graduates from many different fields of study help ensure a prosperous future for Canada. They are those who will build and maintain a strong social infrastructure in areas such as education, communications, justice and health, alongside graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), who will advance the frontiers of science and technology and increase the competitiveness of the Canadian economy globally. Understanding how these graduates fare in the labour market is not only important for policy makers, but also for young people themselves in making their education decisions. The 2016 Census in Brief article entitled "Are young bachelor’s degree holders finding jobs that match their studies?" (http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/censusrecensement/2016/as-sa/98-200-x/2016025/98-200-x2016025-eng.cfm) looks at whether young graduates from different fields of study are finding jobs that require their level of education, and whether their job matches their field of study. The analysis in the current article complements that publication by looking at the earnings of young bachelor’s degree holders by their field of study. This article will focus on the earnings of young people aged 25 to 34 who completed their education in Canada and are bachelor’s degree holders from STEM and BHASE (business, humanities, health, arts, social science and education) fields of study. To make earnings more comparable, it includes only graduates who were paid employees working full time and full year in 2015.

Are young postsecondary graduates finding employment related to their studies? Are there opportunities for them to use the skills they have acquired by obtaining bachelor's degrees? Do women and men fare similarly? And are there differences on these dimensions whether they are 'science, technology, engineering and mathematics' (STEM) graduates or 'business, humanities, health, arts, social science and education' (BHASE) graduates? Young people and their parents often have such questions in mind when choosing education programs. This document, on the match between what Canadians study and their occupation after graduation, complements another 2016 Census in Brief article, "Is field of study a factor in the earnings of young bachelor's degree holders?", which looks at the earnings of young graduates in STEM and BHASE fields of study. To ensure a prosperous future, Canada requires graduates who are prepared to build and maintain a strong social infrastructure in areas such as education, communications, justice and health. Canada also needs graduates who have the scientific and technical skills to move into jobs that will advance the country's scientific and business innovation agenda.

This study examines the relationship between occupational skill requirements and educational attainment (the highest level completed and the field of study). Using the 2011 National Household Survey matched to data from the Occupational Information Network (which contains information on occupational skill requirements), the study uncovers many new findings on the skill requirements of jobs held by Canadians aged 25 to 34 with different educational qualifications. First, skill-level requirements in all areas generally increase with higher educational levels. There are three notable exceptions to this trend, however: requirements for technical operation and maintenance skills do not generally increase with more schooling; doctoral graduates require considerably less resource management skills than other university graduates; and professional degree holders have jobs that require lower mathematics skills than other university graduates, although this is entirely because of law graduates. Moreover, skill requirements are almost always higher among bachelor’s degree holders and college graduates of specific disciplines, compared with high school graduates. Second, skill requirements vary considerably by field of study. For example, bachelor’s degree holders in architecture, engineering, and related technologies generally work in multidimensional jobs requiring diverse, high-level skills. In fact, these graduates rank at the top or very close to the top in eight of the nine skills examined. In contrast, bachelor’s degree holders in three fields (education; visual and performing arts, and communications technologies; and humanities) generally rank lower than other bachelor’s degree holders in most skills examined. However, the skill requirements of college graduates and bachelor’s degree holders are very different across fields of study. While skill requirements are almost always higher among bachelor’s degree holders than among college graduates from the same discipline, the relative ranking of disciplines tends to differ for each level. Finally, there are considerably more gender differences among college graduates than among bachelor’s degree holders with regard to skill requirements by field of study.

Strong economic growth through much of the period since 2000 and demographic pressures such as workforce aging, have contributed to a robust demand for skilled tradespeople. Despite a decline following the economic recession in 2008 and 2009, new registrations in apprenticeship programs have increased nearly 200% since the 1990s. Apprenticeship training is one of the key methods by which people acquire the skills and knowledge needed to become skilled tradespeople. The 2015 National Apprenticeship Survey (NAS) explored the experience of apprenticeship training in Canada, including pathways to apprenticeship and skilled trades, as well as factors influencing completion. The NAS national overview report offers a first look at the data generated by this new survey. Each chapter of the report focuses on one of many key themes including apprentices’ socio-demographic profile, financial supports and labour market outcomes.

Major issues like the province’s fiscal situation, high input costs, an aging population, and the infrastructure deficit are still top of mind for Ontario’s businesses and will require thoughtful policy solutions. Beyond this, we believe there are two interconnected issues the province must successfully navigate to realize its potential: addressing the skills mismatch, which has been estimated to cost up to four percent of Ontario’s GDP in forgone revenue, and addressing regional economic disparity to foster more inclusive economic growth.

To date, very little research has been undertaken on the construction industry’s role in Canada’s transition to low-carbon development. This study marks the first time original research has been undertaken to examine potential impacts on Canada’s construction industry.