The Advisory Panel on Labour Market Information (LMI) is an independent group established by the Forum of Labour Market Ministers (FLMM) to provide advice on how best to improve Canada’s LMI system to make Canadian labour markets function better. And while we knew that, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), our LMI system is one of the best in the world, we eagerly took up our task knowing that we can always do better. As we carried out our consultations, the nature of the challenges facing Canadian labour markets dramatically changed from labour shortages to rising unemployment across the country. But this did not fundamentally alter our task. A good LMI system will help to improve the matching of people and jobs both in times of labour shortages and high unemployment. And a good LMI system is always necessary to make sure that the right policy decisions are made to improve the economy’s performance and lower unemployment.

As part of its strategy of balance between training and employment, the metropolis Employment Council (EMC) has undertaken to perform diagnostics on the needs labor and the supply of training for some sectors of importance of the census metropolitan area (CMA) of Montreal. This study, which joined TechnoMontréal TECHNOCompétences and aims to establish a diagnosis for 18 key occupations in information technology and communications (ICT) in eight sectors of economic activity. [googletranslate_en]

In recent years, technology and entrepreneurship have been promoted as the future of our economy. They are expected to create the prosperity and jobs we need to keep Toronto a vibrant world-class city. TechToronto believes this to be true, but we also believe that the average Torontonian doesn’t appreciate the extent to which technology has already transformed our economy. The Internet, mobile technologies, wearables, big data and machine learning have created thousands of new companies and jobs in Toronto. We undertook this study to demonstrate the impact of technology on the Toronto economy and suggest ways to help the technology ecosystem to prosper and grow. This study defines the Toronto tech ecosystem and measures the ecosystem’s resilience, robustness and impact on the economy. The report consists of two sections. The first two sections provide a quantitative overview of both the Toronto economy at large and the growing tech ecosystem within it. The third section outlines our policy recommendations.

In recent years, several studies have been conducted and highlighted the critical shortage of qualified professionals to fill occupations in ICT in the financial sector. More specifically, three professions are identified as most critical, either 1) scientific data, 2) analysis in business intelligence and 3) data architecture. The present study aimed to: 1) create a portrait of trends and challenges specific to these three roles, 2) identify the needs of workforce acquisition, training and retention, and 3) recommend ways Action to promote the hiring and continued employment of these specialists, as well as adjustments to the existing training for these three professions so that the industry has sufficient qualified resources for continued growth. [googletranslate_en]

This independent review considers the implications of new forms of work on worker rights and responsibilities, as well as on employer freedoms and obligations. It sets out 7 principles to address the challenges facing the UK labour market.

The effect which occupational regulation can have on skill levels, however, is not necessarily consistent. Forth et al. (2011) report it is heavily contingent on the particular occupation, the type of occupational regulation established and its subsequent design, implementation and governance. Whilst there is evidence of the positive effects of introducing occupational regulation (which increase in likelihood the stricter the form of regulation applied) there is little information on schema design or the motivations for their introduction or amendment. This report addresses some of these gaps and, consequently, the aims of the research were to: Identify the design, implementation and administration/governance factors associated with occupational regulation schemes. Use employer and stakeholder perceptions and existing evidence to explore the impact of occupational regulation. Use employer and stakeholder perceptions and existing evidence to explore the impact of unintended consequences. Examine key stakeholder views of the advantages and disadvantages of occupational regulation and critical success factors. Identify best practice in occupational regulation.

This report contributes to the UK Commission’s work to transform the UK’s approach to investing in the skills of people as an intrinsic part of securing jobs and growth. It outlines the performance challenges faced in the Health and Social Care sector, the ‘real-life’ skills solutions implemented by leading and successful businesses to overcome them, and the benefits from doing so. The sector comprises two subsectors; health care and social care. Health care encompasses all hospital activities, medical nursing homes, GP services, specialist medical and dental practices and other human health activities. The social care sector includes residential nursing care, residential nursing facilities, residential care facilities (e.g. for the elderly, children or those with mental health care needs), child day care and non-residential social care.

One of the most fundamental obligations of any society is to prepare its adolescents and young adults to lead productive and prosperous lives as adults. This means preparing all young people with a solid enough foundation of literacy, numeracy, and thinking skills for responsible citizenship, career development, and lifelong learning. For over a century, the United States led the world in equipping its young people with the education they would need to succeed. By the middle of the 19th century, as Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz write in their book, The Race between Education and Technology, “the U.S. already had the most educated youth in the world.” At the turn of the 20th century, just as Europe was catching up, the rapid spread of the “high school movement” helped the U.S. vault ahead again. Yet as we end the first decade of the 21st century, there are profoundly troubling signs that the U.S. is now failing to meet its obligation to prepare millions of young adults. In an era in which education has never been more important to economic success, the U.S. has fallen behind many other nations in educational attainment and achievement. Within the U.S. economy, there is also growing evidence of a “skills gap” in which many young adults lack the skills and work ethic needed for many jobs that pay a middle-class wage. Simultaneously, there has been a dramatic decline in the ability of adolescents and young adults to find work. Indeed, the percentage of teens and young adults who have jobs is now at the lowest level since World War II.

The skills mismatch is multi-faceted. We are confronted by a supply-demand mismatch driven in part by the decisions of students to pursue qualifications in fields with limited employment opportunities.5 This trend is challenging as it results in an increase in the number of highly educated persons working in positions for which they are overqualified. There is also a domino effect whereby lesser qualified people are essentially edged out of the labour market.6 In addition to the supply-demand mismatch, employers also emphasize that competencies such as communication, emotional intelligence, creativity, design, interpersonal skills, entrepreneurship, technological skills and organizational awareness are key indicators to the success of job candidates and employees.7 The deficit of these skills is often cited by employers as an obstacle in the recruitment process.