Jobs, skills and the future of work — who’s saying what?
Will robots take all of the jobs? What kind of skills will employees need in 2027? How can people react to changing employment trends?
For the last few years, Canadian policy experts, thought leaders and researchers have been asking exactly these questions. Through compiling recent Canadian research, we hope to help researchers and policy makers understand who’s doing what on questions about jobs, skills and the future of work.
Last updated by Isabelle Duchaine, April 25, 2018.
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Accenture (US): “New skills now: Inclusion in the digital economy.” Nijma Khan and Tessa Forshaw. October 2017.
Advisory Council on Economic Growth: “Building a highly skilled and resilient workforce through the FutureSkills lab.” February 2017.
BMO Capital Markets: “Wage against the machine.” Sal Guatieri. June 2017.
One study projects the cost of an industrial robotics system will fall from around $28 per hour today to less than $20 in 2020, which is below the average worker’s wage.7 This will increase the share of manufacturing tasks performed by robots globally from around 10% to around 25% by 2025.
Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship: “The Talented Mr. Robot: The impact of automation on Canada’s workforce.” Creig Lamb. June 2016.
Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship: “Future-proof: Preparing young Canadians for the future of work.” Creig Lamb and Sarah Doyle. March 2017.
Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship: “The state of digital literacy in Canada: a literature review.” Tea Hadziristic. April 2017.
Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship: “Automation
across the nation: understanding the potential impacts of technological trends across Canada.” Creig Lamb, Mat Lo. June 2017.
Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship: “Better, Faster,
Stronger: Maximizing the benefits of automation for Ontario’s firms and people.” Creig Lamb, Daniel Munro, Viet Vu. May 2018.
The Business Council of Canada: “Developing Canada’s future workforce: a survey of large private-sector employees.” Aon Hewitt. March 2016.
The Business Council of Canada: “Labour-market information: an essential part of Canada’s skills agenda.” Don Drummond and Cliff Halliwell. June 2016.
The Business Council of Canada: “Navigating Change: Business Council Skills Survey 2018.” Morneau Shepell. April 4, 2018.
C.D. Howe Institute: “Risk and Readiness: The Impact of Automation on Provincial Labour Markets.” Rosalie Wyonch. Jan 2018.
C.D. Howe Institute: “Future shock? The impact of automation on Canada’s labour market.” Matthias Oschinski and Rosalie Wyonch. March 2017.
C.D. Howe Institute: “Job one is jobs: Workers need better policy support and stronger skills.” Craig Alexander. February 2016.
C.D. Howe Institute: “Talking ‘bout my generation: More educated but less
skilled Canadians.” Parisa Mahboubi. November 2017.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce: “Generation Innovation: The talent Canada needs for the new economy.” Sarah Anson-Cartwright et al. November 2016.
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce: “Skills for an Automated Future.” Patrick Snider. March 23, 2018.
The Conference Board of Canada: “Aligning Skills Development With Labour Market Need.” Michael Grant. May 2016.
The Conference Board of Canada: “Globalization and Canada’s PSEs: Opportunities and Challenges.” Michael Grant. November 2016.
The Conference Board of Canada: “New to the Workforce. Compensating and Developing Recent-Graduate and Student Employees.” May 2017. Paid access required.
The Conference Board of Canada: “Skills — Where Are We Today? The State of Skills and PSE in Canada.” Daniel Munro, James Stuckey, Cameron MacLaine. November 2014.
Deloitte Canada. “The 2017 Deloitte Millennial Survey. ‘Apprehensive millennials: seeking stability and opportunities in an uncertain world.” 2017.
Deloitte Canada. “The Intelligence Revolution: Future-proofing Canada’s workforce.” October 2017.
Employment and Social Development Canada: “Canadian occupational projection system 2015 projections, job openings 2015–2024.” December 2015.
The Human Resources Professionals Association: “Next steps for improvement: Identifying the gaps between education and employability in Ontario high schools.” May 2017.
The Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity: “The labour market shift: Training a highly skilled and resilient workforce in Ontario.” September 2017.
Manpower Group: “Employment: Outlook Survey, Canada, Q1 2017.” March 2017.
McKinsey & Company: “Youth in transition: Bridging Canada’s path from education to employment.” April 2015.
Mowat Centre: “How to Build a Skills Lab: A new model of institutional governance in Canada.” Andrew Parkin, Erich Hartmann and Michael Morden. June 2017.
Mowat Centre: “Working without a net: Rethinking Canada’s social policy in the new age of work.” Sunil Johal and Jordann Thirgood. November 2016.
Ontario Chamber of Commerce: “Talent in transition: addressing the skills mismatch in Ontario.” Kathryn Sullivan. January 20, 2017.
RBC: “Humans Wanted: How Canadian youth can thrive in the age of disruption”. March 2018.
Toronto Financial Services Alliance: “Unlocking the human opportunity: Future-proof skills to move financial services forward.” March 2018.
