Why the future of work may be the most pressing issue of our time

A majority of Canadians indicate they have at least a basic understanding of AI and automation. Politicians have an opportunity to seize upon this perceived knowledge to address coming challenges by linking COVID-19 solutions to challenges — and potentially positives — presented by AI and automation. This new report by Peter Loewen and Blake Lee-Whiting shows signs that Canada has not seen a large populist backlash to the pandemic, but that could be coming, perhaps against immigration policies, if citizens feel the government is not following through on job creation.

There are lessons to be learned from industries that have survived and thrived through disruption, as well as those that have failed to navigate industry transformation. We need to learn from the past while we look for innovative ways of working together to rebuild the economy. To achieve these goals, we need to plan for inevitable change as all sectors, no matter how resilient writes Lori Turnbull. With the right tools, workers, employers and sectors can fortify themselves in a new economy.

An estimated 30 percent of the Canadian workforce is engaged in non-standard, precarious work, with an inability to transition to something more stable. As the labour market has been upended by the COVID-19 pandemic, now is a critical time to examine what has played an integral part in shaping the current landscape of our labour market. This paper explores policy considerations around data, benefits and alternatives to envision a future where precarity does not have to be a reality.

COVID-19, the skills gap and automation have all conspired to change the work landscape in Canada and post-secondary institutions must respond to those changing needs. Add to that the fact that employers have been complaining for some time that new hires don’t have the skills the workplace demands, and you have a reason to re-evaluate the way universities operate. They tend to focus on content but employers are looking for cognitive and behavioural skills over content and disciplinary knowledge.

How can Canada use its highly skilled workforce as we transition to a knowledge economy? In their new report, AJ Tibando and Arvind Gupta explore Palette Inc., a not-for-profit platform that was created to upskill diverse and non-traditional workers in an ICT sector biased against hiring them. It looks like the Palette model is working.

Artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, the sharing economy and other emerging technologies were expected to upend the nature of how people work, eliminate an array of routine and repetitive tasks, and put pressure on social support frameworks designed for a different era. These impacts expected to be felt in the near to medium term suddenly find themselves present. The need to reinvent Canada's social and economic policy frameworks has a newfound urgency.

An urban-rural scan of potential long-term effects of the future of work shows the negative effects of a displaced workforce will be felt disproportionately among rural residents, who make up the majority of high-risk employment sectors that will succumb to technology-induced disruption. Understanding how these changes could affect urban centres vs. rural areas is a crucial ingredient to long-term policymaking and key to creating an effective place-based policy agenda for Canada to manage those disruptions and keep an urban-rural economic divide that already exists from growing

Hear the expression “precarious employment” or the “gig economy” and you’ll almost certainly think of the Uber driver who took you to the airport last week. However, precarious employment dates back much further. This report examines three entrenched models—construction workers, those in film and theatre, and those in academia—for recommendations governments can use to address the growing challenge of gig work.

Courts and legislatures are deciding whether your Lyft driver is an independent contractor or an employee. The classification is a big deal, affecting workers' protections through to retirement. This paper surveys the current state of the gig economy and how courts, tribunals and legislatures in North America and the UK are tackling the issue of employment classification.

Who is fearful of automation and what do they want politicians to do about it? This paper finds a correlation between Canadians’ fear of job losses from automation and populist and nativist views—but also that Canadians favour traditional government policy approaches to job disruption, such as retraining, more than radical measures such as reducing immigration.

Gaps in Canada’s Employment Insurance program are already leaving too many workers behind as gig work, part-time jobs and self-employment grow. EI needs to be modernized now to support Canadians as they transition to an economy and labour market disrupted by technology and automation.

Training for working Canadians is scarce, and the people who most need it are the least able to get it. As global competition and technological change increase, Canada needs to create effective and inclusive systems of training, which are essential for innovation, growth, employment and good incomes. In this report, Daniel Munro looks at Canada's strengths and weaknesses, training models from around the world, and suggests improvements to lifelong learning systems.

Broad, rapid government support received widespread support in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on their public opinion research, Peter Loewen and Blake Lee-Whiting argue that Canadians, especially those who lost income or jobs during the pandemic, would be eager to receive government-assisted skills training as part of that support.

A people-centric approach at AVIT Manufacturing in Peterborough, Ont. means that employees are continuously offered opportunities to upgrade their skills and learn new ones. AVIT provides a prime example showing that encouraging lifelong learning in workplaces is an asset. Read this case study by Daniel Squizzato on navigating precarity on managing transformation in disrupted sectors – all for PPF's Brave New Work project on the future of work.

Irving Shipbuilding Inc. found itself in the middle of a rapidly changing shipping industry, and had to adapt to the evolving requirements of talent and infrastructure. Their grow-at-home approach may be the one to adopt in other disrupted sectors too. Read this case study by Sherry Scully on managing transformation in a disrupted sector – all for PPF's Brave New Work project on the future of work.

Millions of modest-income earners in Canada are precariously employed. The pandemic has created more unstable economic conditions than ever before--we need a plan for the future of precarious work. Read this case study by Catherine Lathem on navigating precarity in non-standard work – all for PPF's Brave New Work project on the future of work.

Gig-work continues to grow in preference among workers for its flexibility, but increasing frustration surrounding the lack of benefits is proving to be an important challenge that needs to be tackled. Could portable benefits be the solution the gig-work economy needs? Read this case study by Catherine Lathem on navigating precarity in non-standard work – all for PPF's Brave New Work project on the future of work.

The government is looking for ways to support citizens in lifelong learning-- the Canada Training Benefit is one way of doing this. However, it may not be enough. Read this case study by Rosanna Tamburri on education innovation – all for PPF's Brave New Work project on the future of work.

Microcredentials are emerging as a popular method for upskilling, but their lack of standardization, among other concerns, may impact whether or not these programs are here to stay. Read this case study by Rosanna Tamburri on education innovation – all for PPF's Brave New Work project on the future of work.

The Michener Institute is the only postsecondary institution that directly works to meet the immediate needs of the healthcare system. "The Michener Model" may not only be valuable for Canada's evolving healthcare landscape, but may also have transferrable learnings for other sectors, too. Read this case study by Rosanna Tamburri on education innovation – all for PPF's Brave New Work project on the future of work.

As the world of work continuously shifts, modernizes and innovates, what moves can be made to get and stay ahead when it comes to making work more accessible? PPF co-hosted The Future of Accessible Work panel discussion with Microsoft Canada featuring national and international accessibility leaders & advocates. This speaker series engaged PPF members to learn about accessibility and inclusion straight from the experts. To keep the conversation going and share our lessons learned, we have encapsulated five significant takeaways from the discussion.

In the fourth edition of our Brave New Work Newsletter: Our latest report on rebalancing bargaining power in the future of work, a panel discussion on the future of Alberta's energy sector, and two of our latest blog posts.

What will it take to steward digital development and support workers and the broader public as we transition to a more automated future? Emerging leaders from the Banff Forum say the underlying principles we follow – and insist on – may make all the difference.

The debate over the employment status of gig workers continues to play out in California legislation. What can Canadian regulators learn for our own first attempts at legislation from California’s decision to enact Assembly Bill 5?

What does it mean to be adaptable and resilient as a worker, in the face of radical changes to work? With a focus on Alberta, emerging leaders from the Banff Forum and the City of Edmonton discussed policy lessons and policy solutions to prepare individuals and employers for workforce change.

What can we do about workers living paycheque to paycheque, with the rise of the gig economy and future changes to work? Emerging leaders from the Banff Forum gathered and came up with a holistic set of policy measures for improving the well-being of workers and to help prevent economic marginalization as work changes.

In the third edition of our Brave New Work Newsletter: Five things we learned at our Brave New Work Conference, our latest report on the correlation between Canadians’ fear of job losses from automation and populist and nativist views, and a new blog post on why 'robots will replace us' thinking is not that simple - or that scary!

The most popular way of analyzing the future of work — the labour substitution model — is far too narrow for our complex world. By looking at three other dimensions of change, we can better understand, and prepare for, tomorrow’s opportunities.

The prospect of losing our jobs to automation may keep us up at night and change our politics, but there are other factors at play, too. Here are five key challenges and some smart policy responses that emerged at the inaugural Brave New Work Conference.

In an upcoming report for PPF’s Brave New Work project, Peter Loewen and Benjamin Allen Stevens find a correlation between Canadians’ fear of job losses from automation and populist and nativist views—but also that they favour traditional government policy approaches to job disruption, such as retraining, more than radical measures such as reducing immigration.

Job displacement could disproportionately push women out of the workforce in Canada's jobs future. Women fill many of the lower-paid, often precarious jobs and if contingent work becomes more common it will entirely disrupt the notion of a career ladder - and leadership positions are already dominated by men.

In this second newsletter: New report on big gaps in Employment Insurance, emerging leaders share principles for inclusion that we should all follow, and we learn how disrupting the career ladder creates challenges to gender equity.

Emerging leaders from the Banff Forum gathered to discuss: Who is missing from Canadians' dialogue about our brave new world of work? They came up with a clear set of guiding principles and recommendations for policymakers.

In this first edition of our Brave New Work Newsletter: A new report on the strengths and weaknesses of Canada's training systems, what Canada’s associations see trending in the future of work, and students imagine how Canadians would learn if universities and colleges no longer existed.

From new ways of approaching lifelong learning to recognizing that technology is not the only driver of workplace change, representatives of Canadian associations shared their perspectives on the changing nature of work and how workers and employers are affected.

What happens when university students imagine how they would learn if universities and colleges no longer existed? As part of PPF’s Brave New Work project, we invited students from the Arthur Kroeger College of Public Affairs at Carleton University to do a foresight exercise on the future of learning, skills and access. They had some fascinating ideas.

Rapid change in how we work can stoke fears of a jobless future, but these key policy changes can help turn anxiety into opportunity.

PPF's flagship Brave New Work project is wrapping up by rounding up the perspectives and insights of over 20 of the people who contributed to the project over the years. We ask them what they learned about the future of work, and what they recommend needs to be done next.

Past Event

Past Event

When we look back on 2020, we’ll see a turning point, but right now the destination is unclear. This free, 3-part virtual conference on the future of work in Canada was held on June 16, 17, & 18th, 2020.

Past Event

Past Event

And why are jobs changing? Join the Indigenomics Institute's Carol Ann Hilton and Microsoft's Edoardo de Martin for a dialogue facilitated by SFU's Mark Winston on June 14 in Vancouver.

Past Event

Technology, demographics and other factors are transforming the world of work – and quickly. Push aside the dystopian scenarios and watch this discussion that helped shape policy pathways to enable Canadians to thrive in the jobs of the future.

Past Event

Invite-only roundtable discussion

During the April 12 Testimonial Dinner, TD Bank Group's Norie Campbell announced a three-year initiative with PPF to advance a pan-Canadian policy dialogue on the changing nature of work.