Post-secondary Education in Canada: Strategies for Success

2007 Report

Summary: Part I  Chapter 1

A skilled and adaptable workforce

A skilled and adaptable workforce In the decade leading up to 2015, nearly 70% of the projected 1.7 million new jobs in Canada are expected to be in management or in occupations usually requiring post-secondary qualification (university, college or apprenticeship training).

This reality, in combination with other factors (e.g., limited portability of credentials in skilled trades, low apprenticeship-completion rates, emerging regional labour markets, Canada’s aging workforce and the declining participation of male students in PSE), is causing labour and skills shortages. It is crucial that the country’s post-secondary sector be able to meet these challenges.

Table 1.4.1  Job openings by skill level, 2006–2016


1. AAGR: average annual growth rate.
2. AAR: annual average retirement rates, which correspond to the ratio of retirement level to employment for each forecast year.
3. Skill levels are based on the 2001 NOC Matrix, in which occupations are grouped according to the education and training normally required.
Source: Lapointe, M., et al, Looking ahead: A 10-year outlook for the Canadian labour market (2006–2015), 2006, p. 56

There are some encouraging signs:

  • Since 1990, the percentage of the population holding a bachelor’s degree has almost doubled.
  • The percentage of the population, aged 15 and over, with master’s and doctoral degrees has risen from 3.3% in 1990 to 6% in 2006.

Yet, the latest data indicate that there is room for improvement:

  • Between 1991 and 2004, registrations in apprenticeship programs have increased by 38.8%. However, there has not been a corresponding increase in completion rates over the same period, despite shortages in some skilled trades.
  • Just 13% of skilled trades in Canada are Red Seal—meaning that nearly nine of every 10 trade certifications are not recognized outside the jurisdiction in which they were earned.
  • Unemployment rates for those with a university degree are significantly lower than for those with lesser educational qualifications. Over the last 15 years, unemployment rates for those with less than a high-school education have been three times higher than unemployment rates for those with a university degree.
  • One-quarter of university-degree holders earn less than the average high-school graduate.

What does this mean?

Although Canada has a positive record in PSE, the country is being rivalled by the concerted efforts undertaken by other countries to improve PSE performance and outcomes.

Just three decades ago North Americans accounted for more than one-third of post-secondary students worldwide. Students from Canada and the U.S. now make up one-sixth of global enrolments.

As the information age matures, the resulting demographic, social and economic shifts require attention and action from the PSE sector in Canada. The increasing demand for an adaptable workforce, for example, demonstrates the need for better and stronger links between workplaces and post-secondary institutions (PSIs) in Canada.

Consequently, PSE must enhance its response to the needs of non-traditional learners, such as mature learners, recent immigrants, people with disabilities and Aboriginal people. This requirement would be heightened should economic conditions become less favourable and those who have abandoned PSE become unemployed. Failure to address the needs of non-traditional learners could result in skills gaps in Canada’s labour market, especially in the trades sector, given the continuing low apprenticeship-completion rates and the lack of coordinated credit-transfer systems.

Canada must also examine why so many PSE graduates are earning below their expected potential and determine whether their skill sets are being underutilized, thereby undermining potential gains in productivity for the country as a whole. 


Part I in full (PDF, 3.1 MB)


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