Training and Skills Development Policy Options for the Changing World of Work

Abstract

This article offers a critical assessment of empirical knowledge regarding labour market training and skills development in an era of technological disruption. Although exactly which skills and jobs will become obsolete is not known, technological change may cause unemployment to spike and increase the need for retraining. To move toward understanding what policy interventions will be needed in response, in this article we assess the current state of knowledge about Canada’s active labour market policies. We argue that before creating new programs, policy-makers need to learn from existing policy attempts to address labour market disruptions. By analyzing the most recent Employment and Social Development Canada evaluations, we find that quality data and analyses regarding the effectiveness of these programs are lacking. We conclude that research in this area is needed before policy-makers will be able to develop responses to technological disruption.

Policy resistance to paradigm shifts: Inclusive growth and innovation in Canada

“…Other policy adjustments that enable reskilling are absent in the Canadian context. for the changing world of work (Jansen et al, 2019). While rhetoric suggests that the continuing expansion of the tertiary education system is part of the inclusive innovation agenda, a more thorough effort to promote inclusive growth would seek to tackle the poor portability of credentials and the need for more information about what forms of training and education are effective for meeting labour market demands.…”

“…The Forum of Labour Market Ministers has been working on coordinating labour market information and improving skills transferability across Canada. However, there is less clear information available about what kinds of programs work effectively to train and retrain people for the changing world of work (Jansen et al, 2019). While rhetoric suggests that the continuing expansion of the tertiary education system is part of the inclusive innovation agenda, a more thorough effort to promote inclusive growth would seek to tackle the poor portability of credentials and the need for more information about what forms of training and education are effective for meeting labour market demands.…”

“…However, both federal and provincial programming continue to make use of private sector contracts, a trend that began in the early 1990s (McBride, 1998) and so any change may be lagged due to existing contractual agreements. So far, programs continue to focus either on basic skills like CV building, slightly longer training, or semi‐funded employment (Jansen et al, 2019; Morden, 2016).…”

Heterogeneous Returns to Active Labour Market Programs for Indigenous Populations

“…Jansen et al (2019) provide a comprehensive description of the range of active labour market programs available in Canada.…”

Affirmative Action Attitudes: The Role of Dialectical Thinking in Policy Decision-Making

“…In the policy adoption module of the simulation, participants were presented with three policies. Two policies served as distractors and were developed from previous research on workplace wellness (Mattke et al, 2013) and technological skills training (Jansen et al, 2019).…”