Future Skills
Future skills – basic literacy, numeracy and socio-emotional skills – are important across all economic sectors and occupations. Figuring out who and how to address skills gaps is key to building an inclusive workforce with upward mobility.
Research
Levelling the playing field for Black Canadians
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.
Project
The Skills Algorithm: Digital Skills Demand Across Canada’s Labour Market
This project used machine-learning methods and data from nine million Canadian job postings collected from January 2020 to June 2023 to understand how demand for digital skills has changed since the pandemic and the importance of non-technical or soft skills even in digital workplaces and occupations.
Research
Ready for green jobs: How ready are Canadian regions to attract and support the skilled workforce needed to reach climate targets and drive clean growth?
Clean growth and climate action in Canada could create thousands of jobs in the next seven years. With a potential 300,000 jobs created, communities across the country have the opportunity to thrive while moving Canada towards meeting its climate targets.
Research
Can social and emotional skills be taught?
In this research, we explore the challenges of teaching and learning social and emotional skills in the classroom. Based on interviews with 40 college instructors and...
Project
Quality of work of Canada’s contingent workforce
This research sheds light on the reasons why people engage in gig work and the policy levers needed to mitigate the risks associated with this new form of employment.
Research
Valuing skills in Canada: A statistical approach
In this research, we examine the relationship between skills and income, considering which skills have a strong positive association with earning and which have a...
Project
Skills for a Clean Economy
Canada’s ability to meet its goals for a green and sustainable economy will require support for workers in sectors and industries crucial to climate transitions such as the cleantech sector. An adequate supply of skilled workers to support the sector’s growth is crucial, yet many cleantech companies are experiencing challenges in recruiting workers with the skills needed to support the success of their businesses.
State of Skills
Leveraging the Skills of Newcomers
Navigating career and training decisions is especially complex for newcomers given the challenges they face learning new systems and unfamiliar workplace cultures. Career development support for newcomers should come early and often.
Research
Digital skills and the skills gap
For more than 20 years, industry has been decrying the skills gap and the need for digital skills. The problem of the so-called “digital skills...