Greater Toronto 2011 Breakout Session

The Challenge: The Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is the economic engine of Canada. Despite its dynamism, this region’s labour market does not serve all its constituents well:

• employers lack skilled workers;
• many post-secondary graduates have difficulty establishing careers;
• highly educated newcomers are commonly found in dead-end survivor jobs;
• most job growth occurs at the two ends of the spectrum, in knowledge-sector jobs and entry-level work, creating a polarization that underpins a growing stratification of income in our society; and
• there is no systematic connection between the two sides of the labour market: supply and demand.

Furthermore, our labour market is facing a number of trends and challenges, necessitating a re-alignment of our employment services and workforce development systems:

• the continuing shift from manufacturing to service sector and knowledge work jobs;
• employer expectations of both educational attainment and effective soft skills from employees;
• the erosion of job security and predictable career advancement, replaced by precarious employment and just-in-time hiring;
• the demographic reality of retiring baby-boomers – net labour force growth will depend primarily on immigrants; and
• our economy trails its major competitors in productivity growth and workplace training.

Find the backgrounder for People and Prosperity: Planning for a New World of Work here.

Labour Market and Labour Force Readiness Roundtable proceedings document available here.

Moderator: Catherine Chandler-Critchlow, Executive Director, Toronto Financial Services Alliance Centre of Excellence

Speakers

• Nitin Kawale, President & CEO, Cisco Canada
• Winnie Ng, Co-Chair, Good Jobs for All Coalition and Gindin Chair for Social Justice, Ryerson University
• David Wolfe, Co-Director of the Program on Globalization and Regional Innovation Systems (PROGRIS) at the Munk Centre for International Studies
• Tinashe Mafukidze, Relationship Developer, Polycultural Immigrant & Community Services

Questions for Discussion:

1. Planning for the Future: How could an initiative designed to match people, skills and jobs benefit the Toronto region? What would this initiative look like? Who should be involved? How could it be started?
2. Security for the Insecure: What programs and/or policies are necessary to protect the rising number of people engaged in precarious and/or perpetual contract work?
3. Fostering Success: Is there a capacity to build a broader network-based approach to youth employment, leveraging what already exists?