Canada’s approach to training and development needs reform. Billions of dollars are spent annually on job training and skills development, with limited evidence of lasting benefits. Most problematic, employers’ talent needs (i.e., actual skills demand) are not formally embedded in the process of determining how or where money is spent, leaving a fundamental disconnect between demand for skills and the investments being made by governments.
“The cost of our system’s supply-demand mismatch is substantial. Provinces are requiring an increasing amount of funding for social assistance programs. These program expenditures are growing at two or three times the rate of economic growth in many provinces. More efficient and demand-driven employment services could lower this return rate and generate significant tax savings for government.”
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