This scan on immigrant entrepreneurship will discuss the general climate of immigrant entrepreneurship within Canada touching on successes and challenges faced in previous decades and today. The report provides a discussion of immigrant entrepreneurship in Canada, identifies programs requiring increased attention for the improvement of immigrant experiences, and highlights key programs in Canada, Sweden, Germany, Finland, and the United States focused on facilitating immigrant entrepreneurship. By scanning the ways that government and government-funded actors are creating pathways to entrepreneurship for immigrants, the analysis aims to provide strategic intelligence on the interventions that may facilitate or inhibit immigrant entrepreneurship. The goal is to further policy work to enhance pathways to entrepreneurship for immigrants to Canada.

AI technology will likely transform nearly every aspect of our lives over the next few decades. To ensure this change is positive, it's important to start having conversations now about how to keep the application of AI inclusive, secure, and positive. This report takes an in-depth look at where we are and where we are going with AI, hopefully sparking that conversation today.

In the age of artificial intelligence (AI), business success will increasingly depend on people and machines collaborating with each other. AI will elevate people’s capabilities as workers help intelligent machines to learn and improve. This will not only drive efficiencies, but create new forms of growth and innovation. To succeed, organizations must reimagine work, pivot their workforce to new growth models and ‘new skill’ their people to do more valuable work.

Digital skills are increasingly in demand across many industries. Recent industry reports argue that a shortage of people in the workforce skilled in information and communications technology (ICT) is inhibiting the growth of innovative companies around the world. Some argue that in Canada, this global challenge is exacerbated by Canadian firms’ historic tendency to adopt new technologies at a slower than average speed — a hesitancy many argue is itself the result of previous shortages of skilled technology workers.

KEY POINTS: Principal applicants in the skilled worker category, both men and women, had better labour outcomes than immigrants who entered under other immigration classes. They were more likely to be employed, and be working in their area of training/education, had taken less time to find their first job, had shorter jobless spells and earned more than other groups. Refugees, both men and women, faced more difficulties even four years after arrival. They were more likely to have high unemployment rates, more jobless spells, longer time taken to secure their first job in Canada, and lower earnings. Immigrant men had overall better labour outcomes than immigrant women, including higher labour force participation rates. Within their first four years in Canada, all immigrants had higher unemployment rates than the working population as a whole, regardless of immigration class.

A year ago RBC launched Humans Wanted: How Canadian youth can thrive in the age of disruption, a ground-breaking research report that examined the coming skills revolution in Canada. We found that for Canada to thrive in a time of profound economic and technological change, we need to develop a workforce that is highly mobile and equipped with the skills critical to the jobs of the future. As part of Humans Wanted, you told us you wanted to be heard on the subject of Canada's skills disconnect. So we went out and we listened. Over the course of 10 months we visited 12 cities, held 36 events and roundtable discussions, and engaged with more than 5,000 Canadians, ranging from youth and workers to employers, educators and policymakers, each with perspectives on how Canada can prepare for a disrupted future. What follows is a series of themes and ideas that emerged from that journey about the opportunities for Canada as we enter the 2020s

The School of Graduate Studies is excited to share the results of the 10,000 PhDs Project, which used Internet searches of open-access data sources such as official university and company websites to determine the current and/or first (2016) employment status of the 10,886 PhDs who graduated from U of T between 2000 and 2015 in all disciplines. The study successfully located 88% of PhD graduates. Where are U of T’s PhDs employed? From Professor to CEO, Assistant Deputy Minister to Creative Director, they are working in all sectors of society and in 97 countries around the world.

Bridging programs are designed for internationally educated immigrant professionals who have completed formal training in another country but who may not have the educational, professional or language requirements necessary to become licensed to practice in Canada. As Ontario's population ages, the successful integration of internationally educated health professionals (IEHPs) into the health care workforce has been identified as a strategy to address the challenges created by the shrinking labour pool and growing demands on the health care system (Finley & Hancock, 2010; Stuckey & Munro, 2013). To better understand the role of Ontario's postsecondary system in facilitating the entry of IEHPs into the health care workforce, this study analyzed seven Canadian bridging programs and obtained input from 15 key informants. The goal of the evaluation was to identify the characteristics and practices of effective IEHP bridging programs. The specific research questions addressed by the evaluation were: 1. What are the expected outcomes of effective bridging programs and how should they be measured? 2. What are the key features that contribute to bridging program effectiveness? 3. What challenges do bridging programs face in achieving their goals? 4. What is the appropriate role of regulatory colleges, government, employers and professional associations in ensuring bridging program effectiveness?

This report presents findings from the Work-Integrated Learning Employer Survey. The survey was designed to explore employer motivations and barriers to participating in work-integrated learning (WIL) programs (such as cooperative education, field placements and internships) and to gather employer perspectives on the impact of WIL on the skills, competencies and employability of Ontario postsecondary graduates. The survey was undertaken by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) in partnership with 14 Ontario postsecondary (PSE) institutions, the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) and the Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation (MEDI). It is part of a larger research project that includes surveys of postsecondary faculty and students at the participating institutions. Postsecondary WIL programs are endorsed by both career development practitioners and business associations as essential to effective workforce development. They are also viewed as having the potential to offer significant labour market benefits to students - by improving their competitive positioning as they enter the labour market and, in some cases, helping them to secure employment immediately upon graduation. To successfully implement these programs, postsecondary institutions rely on the active participation of individual employers. Yet relatively little research has been conducted to assess employer attitudes toward WIL. Findings from the Work-Integrated Learning Employer Survey will support and strengthen partnerships between businesses, postsecondary institutions, community organizations and government by contributing knowledge about employer perspectives on the role of WIL programs, their perceptions of benefits and challenges, and the impact of WIL in transitioning students to the labour market. The survey was conducted by telephone with 3,369 Ontario employers in spring 2012, using a stratified random sampling approach. Results are generalizable to all Ontario employers with a margin of error of +/- 2%. This report analyzes employer attitudes and experiences with WIL according to whether they had hired postsecondary graduates and whether they had participated in work-integrated learning programs. Findings for employers who provided WIL are further analyzed by the type of postsecondary institution offering the WIL program and the specific type of WIL. Finally, differences between employers are also considered by size and sector.