This report helps to fill the information gap by documenting how many Canadians have missed work or school due to COVID-19 in the 12 months prior to the time of the survey in March 2023, and the length of their absences.

These reports provide insight into skills needs for workers in Ontario’s growing zero-emissions vehicles and battery manufacturing sectors, and what steps can be taken by government, industry, and educational institutions to support workers in this transition.

ChatGPT, which stands for Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer, is a text-generating AI chatbot developed by OpenAI and launched on November 30, 2022. This briefing examines the influence of ChatGPT usage on organizations and workers. Which roles are most impacted by using ChatGPT and which are the least impacted? For which skill does generative AI have the largest organizational implications? Are there concerns about ChatGPT’s safety and security and, if so, how should they be addressed? Read the issue briefing to get our full analysis.

The latest wave of the Survey on Employment and Skills, conducted in March 2023, revisits the issue of access to skills training. Three years after the onset of the pandemic, it finds that more workers are participating in work-related training to improve their skills, while training is becoming less focused on the management of the pandemic. It also shows that the most common type of training is that which focuses on workplace health and safety. The survey finds that working from home does not appear to have posed a barrier to skills training to date, as those who have switched to working from home are more likely than those who continue to work in their regular workplace to access training to improve their skills.

In this research, we look at how Black Canadian professionals’ social and emotional skills are valued in the workplace and how leaders can cultivate a workplace where everyone feels empowered and included. How do Black Canadians see their racial identity impacting the recognition and evaluation of their social and emotional skills (SES) at work? What are the risks of an employees’ skills not being recognized? What are the benefits of realizing the diverse skill sets within an organization? Read the impact paper to get the full analysis.

This project used available data to synthesize what is currently known about the levels, types, and trends in firms’ training investments including which firms provide (and which employees receive) training, and the motivations and barriers firms face in providing training. The project showed that Canadian firms lag their international peers in investments in training; that larger firms are more likely to invest, especially those in knowledge & technology-based sectors; and that training is more likely to be offered to full-time, permanent employees in their prime working years with higher levels of education. 

Supporting  employers in overcoming structural barriers to training investment is key to addressing labour and skill shortages.

Using a novel labour market information source through LinkedIn profile data, this report assesses the current uptake of microcredentials in two digitally-intensive occupations: data scientists and software professionals.

The significant compensation disparity between Canadian and American tech workers calls for renewed efforts to scale Canadian tech companies.