Technology and economic forces continue to reshape the world of work. According to our 2018 survey, more people than ever recognize the skills gap and the potential impact of automation and artificial intelligence on their jobs. While some see threats on the horizon, others are taking initiative and finding opportunities to build the careers they aspire to.

Today’s labor markets are undergoing radical change, as digital platforms transform how they operate and revolutionize the nature of work. In many ways, this is a positive development, one that has the potential to match workers with jobs more efficiently and transparently than ever before. But the increasing digitization of the labor market also has at least one very worrying drawback: it is undermining the traditional employer-employee relationships that have been the primary channel through which worker benefits and protections have been provided.

The study examines two primary research questions: (1) How are legal issues currently impacting WIL programs in Ontario? (2) What steps could be taken to help legal frameworks and processes align more closely with the goal of expanding the availability of quality WIL programs and opportunities? We addressed these questions through a combination of in-depth qualitative interviews with WIL experts in both legal and non-legal roles and a review of relevant provincial and federal legislation and regulations, as well as legal cases dating back to 1990. We also reviewed secondary literature on WIL in Canada and in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. As well, the report analyzes Canadian tax expenditures designed to support WIL to assess the size and scope of tax-delivered investments in these programs.

The unemployment rate is certainly a problem; but it becomes more worrying as the duration of unemployment increases, leading to long term unemployment (LTU). The Ontario government describes long-term unemployment as the proportion of unemployed people who have been actively looking for work for the last 27 weeks or more during the Labour Force Survey. Statistics Canada on the other hand defines LTU as the proportion of the labour force aged 15 or older who did not have a job any time during the current or previous 12 months and have been actively looking for work in the past 4 weeks. According to Toronto Employment and Social Services (TESS), those on assistance for three or more years are referred to as long term unemployed. This project will assess the feasibility of conducting a longitudinal study of job seekers in the City of Toronto. The goal is to discover, describe and document the “life-experiences” of people who have encountered workforce development programming, and those who should be able to benefit from employment services.

This evaluation report presents the learning from the evaluation of the UK Futures Programme (UKFP). The UKFP ran between April 2014 and June 2016 and was funded by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills’ (UKCES). The UKFP provided an innovative approach to tackling workforce development issues, offering small scale public co-investment to employers and industry, to design and test their own solutions to emerging or long-standing skills and productivity challenges. The UKFP’s four key objectives were to: Support collaborative approaches to workforce development issues amongst employers and, where applicable, wider social partners; Encourage innovative approaches to addressing workforce development issues; Identify ways to address new or persistent market or system failures which act as a brake on UK workforce competitiveness; Identify ‘what works’ when addressing market failures in relation to workforce development, for adoption in policy development and wider business practice.

Canada’s labour market is undergoing changes, but what does the future hold? With a range of technological, environmental, and political trends driving change, which ones should Canadians pay attention to most? Signs of the Times: Expert insights about employment in 2030 offers a look at how a range of experts across Canada are thinking about the future of employment, as well as which trends, they believe are most likely to create change. In doing so, this report aims to provide guidance to Canadian policy makers, educators, employers, students, and workers about what the future of Canada’s labour market may hold. Signs of the Times is the second report to be released as part of the Brookfield Institute’s Employment in 2030 initiative. Building on previous work conducted by project partner Nesta, Employment in 2030 uses futures research, expert workshops, and machine learning algorithms to project the skills most likely to be in demand in 2030 across Canada. The first phase of this initiative resulted in Turn and Face the Strange, a report that outlines 31 broad trends with the potential to impact Canada’s labour market. This research was used to frame the next phase of the project: six workshops held across Canada, inviting a range of diverse experts to share how they expect select occupations might change in the next 10–15 years. Data from these workshops will inform the last phase of the project: data analysis using machine learning algorithms to project these impacts across the labour market, shedding light on the skills most likely to be in demand. The findings from this final phase will be shared in a third report, which is set for release in 2020. Signs of the Times outlines the insights gathered at the six expert workshops, as well as the unique workshop methodology designed specifically for this project and the occupations experts were asked to rate. It describes the key trends participants identified as most likely to create change for Canada’s labour market, as well as broader reflections observed in each region.

This paper focuses on low-wage workers—who they are, where they work, where they live, and what their future challenges may be in regard to education/skill requirements, job quality, and wages. Analysis of employment projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reveals that the future of work will be shaped by much more than labor market skill demands. And in the future, rising wages will depend more on the wage growth within occupations than on any change in the mix of occupations.

The World Development Report (WDR) 2019: The Changing Nature of Work studies how the nature of work is changing as a result of advances in technology today. Fears that robots will take away jobs from people have dominated the discussion over the future of work, but the World Development Report 2019 finds that on balance this appears to be unfounded. Work is constantly reshaped by technological progress. Firms adopt new ways of production, markets expand, and societies evolve. Overall, technology brings opportunity, paving the way to create new jobs, increase productivity, and deliver effective public services. Firms can grow rapidly thanks to digital transformation, expanding their boundaries and reshaping traditional production patterns. The rise of the digital platform firm means that technological effects reach more people faster than ever before. Technology is changing the skills that employers seek. Workers need to be better at complex problem-solving, teamwork and adaptability. Digital technology is also changing how people work and the terms on which they work. Even in advanced economies, short-term work, often found through online platforms, is posing similar challenges to those faced by the world’s informal workers. The Report analyzes these changes and considers how governments can best respond. Investing in human capital must be a priority for governments in order for workers to build the skills in demand in the labor market. In addition, governments need to enhance social protection and extend it to all people in society, irrespective of the terms on which they work. To fund these investments in human capital and social protection, the Report offers some suggestions as to how governments can mobilize additional revenues by increasing the tax base.

The President’s Upskill initiative is focused on realizing the full potential of America’s workforce by empowering Americans with the education and training they need to develop new skills and earn higher wages. Some front-line workers may be just starting their careers, while some may be older workers who don’t have the basic skills to allow them to take on more responsibility and reach higher paying roles. Others could also be workers who may have the competencies, but not formal credentials, to excel at a more senior-level job. This report focuses on central questions that are driving the work of the initiative to help more Americans “upskill”.