Learning nation: Equipping Canada’s workforce with skills for the future

The Advisory Council’s final wave of recommendations for Canada’s growth agenda for skills development. Canada’s skills development infrastructure is simply not equipped to meet the challenges that lie ahead. Our system today rests primarily on two pillars. The first one supports the development of skills before people enter the workforce, through K-12 and post-secondary education. The second pillar supports individuals when they leave the workforce, by providing assistance to the unemployed and the retired. That leaves a large gap in institutional support and training during Canadians’ most productive years—and it is in this phase that workers will be most affected by the labour market turmoil. While our system has served us well in a relatively stable environment to date, it is not set up to address the coming labour-market disruptions. Canada urgently needs a third pillar that focuses on supporting working adults