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Skills Next Series

Canadians’ needs for skills training and education are changing quickly.

In response, the Public Policy Forum, the Diversity Institute, and the Future Skills Centre have joined together to publish Skills Next, a series that explores what is working in workplaces, universities, and the labour market – and where workers are falling through the gaps in our skills training system.

Our first set of Skills Next papers was released in January and February of 2020. Each report focuses on one issue — such as the impact of technology in the workplace, gig work, digital skills, and barriers to employment that some marginalized groups experience — and reviews the existing state of knowledge on this topic and identifies areas in need of additional research.

Skills Next

Skills Next—Winter 2020

On the Skills Next authors

The series is authored by an expansive and diverse network of researchers and subject matter experts carefully selected to provide a broad-range of perspectives within a Canadian context. Their varied backgrounds, experiences, and expertise have shaped their individual perspectives, their analyses of the current skills ecosystem, and the reports they have authored.

Skills Next is funded by the Government of Canada’s Future Skills Centre.

For more information contact:

Kathleen Powderly
Responsible Comms
kathleen@responsiblecomm.ca

Peter Aterman
Future Skills Centre – Communications Manager
paterman@ryerson.ca

Tomek Sysak
Public Policy Forum – Communications Specialist
TSysak@ppforum.ca

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Rising Concerns About the Impact of New Technologies on Employment

The proportion of Canadian workers who are worried about losing their job in the coming years because the work they do will soon be done by computers or robots has increased, and this cannot be accounted for simply by pointing to growing pessimism about the economy in general. Rather, there is a more direct relationship between concerns about the impact of automation on employment, and the use of AI programs at work.
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Scoping a PIAAC Research Agenda: Programme for the International Assessments of Adult Competencies

This project was initiated to develop a Canadian PIAAC research agenda that can guide policymakers, researchers and practitioners in using these new data to close knowledge gaps, enhance policy decisions and improve national performance in skills development.
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Technology and Agriculture: Adoption and Barriers

Without explicit educational support, small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) and diverse-owned agribusiness may be left out of the AgTech revolution. Skills-based supports are needed to maintain market competitiveness and ensure technology literacy and adoption issues are equalized—not accentuated—among groups.
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