A new report released today from the Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship (BII+E) at Ryerson University explores the biggest social, political, economic, environmental and technological trends driving Canada’s labour market in the decade ahead.
According to a release from BII+E, shifting global power dynamics and the rapid adoption of remote work means that Canada’s economy is reeling from a host of changes that have been accelerated, disrupted, or created by COVID-19.”
It added that the report “sets out to understand the breadth of potential changes ahead so that we can better prepare workers and employers for the future of Canada’s labour market.
“Using strategic foresight research and interactive expert workshops, Yesterday’s Gone identifies and explores eight megatrends with the potential to impact employment in Canada by 2030.
“They include: Our Lives Online; Capitalism in Question; Technology to the Rescue; Climate in Crisis; Reconciliation and Inclusion; Finding Meaning and Well-being; Shifting Power and Evolving Population. In exploring these changes, businesses, governments, and policymakers will be better equipped to design skills-demand programs and policy responses.”
Findings include the following:
- The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated pre-existing trends such as automation and digitization while forcing society to rethink many of our assumptions about how we work and learn, and our socioeconomic structures and systems.
- COVID-19 has given rise to new trends, including a heightened prioritization of meaning and well-being in our work and lives. While some changes may be temporary, they could have longer term implications for the labour market.
- Topics that may seem unrelated to Canada’s labour market, such as floods, air pollution, and responsible AI, all have the potential to impact the future of work.
Yesterday’s Gone is the first report from BII+E’s Employment in 2030: Action Labs project, funded by the federal government’s Future Skills Centre.
“The report will help inform the prototyping of potential new service offerings, interventions, or policies aimed at helping workers gain the skills and abilities they need to be resilient in the next decade,” the release stated.
“BIII+E will work with six partner organizations across Canada to host these prototyping sessions as well as a national showcase between March and May of 2021.”
Editor’s note: The illustration accompanying this article is by Salini Perera (CNW Group/Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship)
