Welcome to the monthly newsletter that helps you make sense of how careers actually happen in Canada – cutting through the noise of labour market data, education decisions, and a rapidly changing world of work. Whether you're navigating your own career, supporting someone else through theirs, or thinking about how to build better career development in your school or organization, this is for you.
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Deep Dive: How is Canada's “skills gap” really five distinct problems in a trenchcoat?
Myth of the Month: Is salary the primary driver of Canadian professionals' job changes?
The Number That Surprised Me: What's the gender difference in Canadians' pensions? Worth Bookmarking: What does the House of Commons Committee's Report on Youth Unemployment tell us about how we can change the system that supports young people? |
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As someone pursuing a portfolio career, I speak to both job seekers and employers weekly. For the past two years, job seekers have told me it’s so hard to find a job, and employers have told me it’s so hard to find skilled talent. Canadian media and policy regularly reference a “skills gap,” claiming this is at the root of the country’s stagnant economic growth. This claim has shaped post-secondary curriculum decisions, the development of new training programs, and the rollout of immigration policy.
But is it accurate? Evidence shows it’s complicated. The so-called “skills gap” is actually five distinct phenomena in a trenchcoat – in order from most systemic to most individual, these are: - Genuine Occupational and Regional Shortages: When a geographic area needs more people with specific skills than are available. Some regions have jobs going unfilled because the local population doesn’t have the skills employers need – even when the area may also have an abundance of people with other skills. These gaps are real – shortages of higher-skilled workers alone cost the national economy $2.6B in 2024 – but they’re not everything.
- Weak Credential Recognition: When the people who have in-demand skills exist within a region, but “don’t count” because their education and/or professional license isn’t considered valid. This is common with internationally educated professionals, especially in regulated professions such as healthcare and certain skilled trades. I’ve heard the joke that if you’re having trouble finding a doctor, you should just call an Uber and tell the driver your symptoms. It's a wry observation, but the reality it describes is genuinely costly – to immigrants and to the healthcare system straining to meet the needs of an aging population.
- Employer Unwillingness to Train: When employers are only willing to hire people who are already 100% “job-ready.” Canadian employers’ investments in employee training are down 40% from 20 years ago. In 2019, less than 65% of companies across Canada reported training their staff to overcome specific skills shortages. Small- and medium-sized employers, which account for nearly half of the GDP generated by the private sector, are far less likely to invest in training than large employers. These figures place us last in the G7 for employer investment in training and hours of instruction.
- Poor Employer Value Propositions: When the jobs that go unfilled don’t pay enough or don’t have working conditions good enough to attract people who have (or could develop) the skills they need. In other words, low job quality repels skilled talent. This partially explains why we aren’t seeing laid-off tech workers lining up to become Personal Support Workers, even though demand for PSWs is high and only projected to increase.
- A Skills Awareness Gap: When people have the skills an employer needs, but don’t realize they have these skills, so they don’t apply to the job or don’t make a persuasive case that they’re qualified on their application. I’ve seen this happen often, especially among newcomers, new graduates, and career changers.
When we conflate these problems, we produce bad policies: blunt solutions, rather than the specific solutions that each problem requires. For example, governments incentivize individuals to pursue certain training and jobs – only for those people to resign quickly, because of low pay or other job quality factors. Immigration pathways are designed for entire occupations (like Skilled Tradespeople), without anyone distinguishing between the labour demand for industrial mechanics, pest controllers, or film processing supervisors. If you’re a job seeker feeling the tension between the headlines and the applications you’re not hearing back about, here are some things to try: - Examine “skills gaps” claims critically – when you hear about skills shortages, are they specific to your occupation and region? If not, are they specific to another occupation that you are both qualified and willing to work in?
- Overcome your own skills awareness gap by inventorying your skills against a job posting. Read the employer’s requirements and actively match your experiences to each one. Include experiences gained and skills developed outside of formal, paid work experiences to ensure you’re giving yourself credit where credit is due.
- If you’re considering re-training, hone in on the occupations your province or territory needs more of by using the Labour Market Imbalances Dashboard featured last month. Drill deeper into your local labour market conditions by exploring reports produced by municipal governments, regional workforce planning boards or post-secondary associations, and regional professional associations.
If you’re an employer frustrated by the applications you’re receiving, here are some things to try: - Advocate for stronger foreign credential recognition pathways – if you work in a regulated profession, write to your regulatory body about how their licensure pathways for foreign-trained professionals prevent you from finding the talent you need.
- Consider how people with different kinds of experience may be able to contribute to your organization, and be willing to think outside the box when it comes to hiring.
- Invest in training your employees. Training improves productivity and retention, and there are many government programs available to help reduce the financial burden on employers, especially for small- and medium-sized organizations.
- Remember that job quality isn't only about wages. Flexible scheduling, strong culture, and benefits like deferred leave plans can help attract higher-quality talent even when salaries can’t rise.
While skills gaps do exist, the “skills gap” narrative is most useful to those who benefit from a supply-side explanation of labour market problems. That explanation is convenient: if the problem is worker skills, the solution is worker retraining, so all employers, governments, and institutions need to do is develop and deliver training programs. A more honest accounting requires those parties to examine the demand-side failures they create or perpetuate – job quality, wages, credential recognition, and training investment – which are harder to address. Until that happens, both sides of the talent equation will be following a roadmap that doesn’t quite get them where they want to go.
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Myth: Salary is the primary factor Canadian professionals consider when changing jobs.
Reality: For the second time since recruitment firm Robert Half began tracking worker sentiment, “better benefits and perks” eclipsed pay as the leading motivator for 1,800+ professionals and job seekers in Canada. I see this reflected in my own practice, too – clients are increasingly asking how they can find a job that suits their lifestyle. |
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$28,600 vs. $38,700: What the average Canadian woman aged 65 or older lives on per year compared to the average Canadian man of that age. Despite gender pay gaps narrowing, a gender pension gap persists – for reasons historical, sociological, and behavioural. This is a sombre reminder of how outdated systems are not updated on their own, and how early- and mid-career choices ripple across the lifespan. |
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The House of Commons Committee Report on Youth Unemployment: 40+ pages of recent testimony from economists, employers, and community organizations on why young Canadians are struggling to find work and how the system can better support them. The List of Recommendations is a great starting point for anyone interested in how Canada may address a problem with serious economic, social, and mental health consequences. |
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Thanks for reading this month's edition of Pathways & Paycheques. If this sparked a question or shifted your understanding of the world of work, please reply to let me know. I'm an Inbox Zero evangelist, so you can be sure I'll read it!
Sincerely,
Carli |
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Midtown
Toronto, ON M5N, Canada |
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