In a report released yesterday, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce recommended improving Canada’s high education system to deal with looming labour shortages.
“An affordable, accessible and high quality post-secondary education system is key to ensuring a large and growing pool of skilled and knowledgeable workers to meet future labour market needs,” wrote Chief Economist Tina Kremmidas.
While the recession has diverted attention from the labour shortage issue, Canada’s low birth rates and an ageing population will soon catch up with us.
“We will have too few workers to meet the needs of our economy and of society. Thus, we must do everything possible to tap into the pool of underutilized talent – older workers, Aboriginal peoples, the disabled and recently landed immigrants.”
The report echoes what OUSA has long affirmed – that increasing post-secondary graduation rates for Canadians from these traditionally underrepresented groups will be critical to reducing the coming labour shortage. Canada’s disappointing university participation rates show there is room to improve.
“In 2006, Canada sat 20th among OECD nations in the proportion of youth enrolled full-time in university soon after completing secondary school. For First Nations, Métis, Inuit and the disabled, post-secondary education participation rates continue to be very low. Canada needs to do more to ensure affordable access to a high-quality education for them.”
With this report, The Canadian Chamber of Commerce has added itself to the list of organizations outside the post-secondary sector that have recently called on the provincial and federal governments to improve access and participation, including the Institute for Competitiveness and Prosperity, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, and the Ontario Association of Food Banks.
View the full report HERE.
-Alexi White
Executive Director
Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance
Great article, and many thanks for taking the effort to publish it; really opened my eyes for some new perspectives that I hadn’t thought of before.