The pandemic has rapidly accelerated a transformation in the way Canadians work. Thousands of enterprises have pivoted to remote employment, connecting staff through online collaboration and video-conferencing platforms like Zoom and WebEx. At the same time, workers whose jobs cannot be carried out virtually, or who were employed in sectors where customer demand has collapsed, face unemployment.
What’s more, a cohort of promising young people have been isolated by pandemic restrictions and disconnected from employment opportunities, job experience and training. As COVID-19 abates, many lost jobs in sectors such as warehousing and transportation, construction, personal services, arts and culture, hospitality and travel will return. Others will be adjusted to accommodate pandemic-driven structural changes. While some jobs will be lost forever, in sectors such as information technology, health sciences and skilled trades, there is a pressing talent shortage.
Seismic shifts in the workplace make it imperative for the City of Toronto to develop a comprehensive, proactive workforce-development strategy that ensures our talent pool remains among the most resilient and competitive in the world. Our challenge is to adopt forward-looking strategies to help ensure that the city’s highly skilled workforce is aligned with the emerging demand for specialized, well-trained skilled labour.
As members of the Economic and Culture Recovery Advisory Group, we came together to help the city identify ways to meet that challenge. The Advisory Group was formed in June 2020 by co-chairs Michael Thompson and Blake Goldring to develop a long-term strategy to build back stronger from the pandemic.
Among the 18 recommendations in our report, approved by city council last December, three specifically address underlying talent and workforce issues. All three share a common foundation of collaboration: with the business and education sectors, with other governments and with community partners. By committing to sustained, long-term action on our recommendations, the city government will re-energize Toronto’s economy, strengthen our workforce and help create more equitable work opportunities for marginalized groups and youth.
1. Create a strategic approach to workforce development. The advisory group proposes that the municipal government bring together a broad spectrum of stakeholders to create a long-term, strategic approach to workforce development and training. Governments, Indigenous communities, the higher education sector, professional associations, trade unions and businesses all play important roles in advancing workforce development and skills training.
Collaboration is already underway in a number of sectors. For example, through the xoTO Screen Industry Pathway Initiative, the city is partnering with community organizations such as CEE Centre for Young Black Professionals, unions and other not-for-profits to offer Black workers training in film-production trades and other production jobs.
The city also connects domestic and international productions to local BIPOC talent through industry partners BIPOC TV & Film, Reelworld and ACTRA Toronto. A co-ordinated strategy for workforce development will enable Toronto to respond more broadly and effectively to the labour-market challenges and opportunities presented by the pandemic, and lay the groundwork for continued prosperity in a rapidly evolving and growing economic environment.
2. Champion support for workers as a foundation of economic recovery. The pandemic has turned the spotlight on a number of important issues facing workers, such as inadequate health and safety conditions, the alarming rise of precarious work and the need for a living wage. These issues disproportionately affect the vulnerable workers, including women, racialized people, and other equity-deserving groups that comprise a high percentage of labour in some of the hardest-hit sectors.
To build back stronger, the city needs to work with partners in business, government and labour to establish a shared commitment to confront these challenges, and use its influence to enact positive change.
3. Establish a Youth Economic Recovery Table. Youth have been hit especially hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Statistics Canada data from the end of October 2020 shows that at 22 per cent, Toronto's unemployment rate among people aged 15-24 was more than double that of the population as a whole.
Specific support from the city and community partners — particularly initiatives that address youth training, employment, and more equitable access to opportunity — is essential for recovery among this demographic. Those who are still in school, especially, need access to better training opportunities, including continued access to co-ops, apprenticeships and other experiential learning to improve their long-term employment prospects.
Expanding opportunities for young people will not only strengthen labour-force participation and competitiveness, but will also help to address underlying, long-term issues of underrepresentation in the workforce among racialized communities and newcomers. The Youth Economic Recovery Table’s membership should reflect the city’s cultural, racial, and geographic diversity and enable the table to continue to champion youth opportunities once the city progresses beyond the recovery period.
The Advisory Group recognizes that Toronto is a unique and fair-minded city that is committed to shared prosperity for all of its residents. We believe that by implementing workforce strategies that support the city government’s pledge to promote diversity and share prosperity, we will emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic with a stronger economy, greater cultural dynamism and a more promising future.
Rusul Alrubail is executive director of the Parkdale Centre for Innovation. Mark Bennett is executive chair of Cassels. Zabeen Hirji is executive adviser, future of work at Deloitte. Mike Yorke is president of the Carpenters District Council of Ontario. Members of the Economic and Culture Recovery Advisory Group participated in their personal capacities. Affiliations are for identification only.
The pandemic has rapidly accelerated a transformation in the way Canadians work. Thousands of enterprises have pivoted to remote employment, connecting staff through online collaboration and video-conferencing platforms like Zoom and WebEx. At the same time, workers whose jobs cannot be carried out virtually, or who were employed in sectors where customer demand has collapsed, face unemployment.
What’s more, a cohort of promising young people have been isolated by pandemic restrictions and disconnected from employment opportunities, job experience and training. As COVID-19 abates, many lost jobs in sectors such as warehousing and transportation, construction, personal services, arts and culture, hospitality and travel will return. Others will be adjusted to accommodate pandemic-driven structural changes. While some jobs will be lost forever, in sectors such as information technology, health sciences and skilled trades, there is a pressing talent shortage.
Seismic shifts in the workplace make it imperative for the City of Toronto to develop a comprehensive, proactive workforce-development strategy that ensures our talent pool remains among the most resilient and competitive in the world. Our challenge is to adopt forward-looking strategies to help ensure that the city’s highly skilled workforce is aligned with the emerging demand for specialized, well-trained skilled labour.
As members of the Economic and Culture Recovery Advisory Group, we came together to help the city identify ways to meet that challenge. The Advisory Group was formed in June 2020 by co-chairs Michael Thompson and Blake Goldring to develop a long-term strategy to build back stronger from the pandemic.
Among the 18 recommendations in our report, approved by city council last December, three specifically address underlying talent and workforce issues. All three share a common foundation of collaboration: with the business and education sectors, with other governments and with community partners. By committing to sustained, long-term action on our recommendations, the city government will re-energize Toronto’s economy, strengthen our workforce and help create more equitable work opportunities for marginalized groups and youth.
1. Create a strategic approach to workforce development. The advisory group proposes that the municipal government bring together a broad spectrum of stakeholders to create a long-term, strategic approach to workforce development and training. Governments, Indigenous communities, the higher education sector, professional associations, trade unions and businesses all play important roles in advancing workforce development and skills training.
Collaboration is already underway in a number of sectors. For example, through the xoTO Screen Industry Pathway Initiative, the city is partnering with community organizations such as CEE Centre for Young Black Professionals, unions and other not-for-profits to offer Black workers training in film-production trades and other production jobs.
The city also connects domestic and international productions to local BIPOC talent through industry partners BIPOC TV & Film, Reelworld and ACTRA Toronto. A co-ordinated strategy for workforce development will enable Toronto to respond more broadly and effectively to the labour-market challenges and opportunities presented by the pandemic, and lay the groundwork for continued prosperity in a rapidly evolving and growing economic environment.
2. Champion support for workers as a foundation of economic recovery. The pandemic has turned the spotlight on a number of important issues facing workers, such as inadequate health and safety conditions, the alarming rise of precarious work and the need for a living wage. These issues disproportionately affect the vulnerable workers, including women, racialized people, and other equity-deserving groups that comprise a high percentage of labour in some of the hardest-hit sectors.
To build back stronger, the city needs to work with partners in business, government and labour to establish a shared commitment to confront these challenges, and use its influence to enact positive change.
3. Establish a Youth Economic Recovery Table. Youth have been hit especially hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Statistics Canada data from the end of October 2020 shows that at 22 per cent, Toronto's unemployment rate among people aged 15-24 was more than double that of the population as a whole.
Specific support from the city and community partners — particularly initiatives that address youth training, employment, and more equitable access to opportunity — is essential for recovery among this demographic. Those who are still in school, especially, need access to better training opportunities, including continued access to co-ops, apprenticeships and other experiential learning to improve their long-term employment prospects.
Expanding opportunities for young people will not only strengthen labour-force participation and competitiveness, but will also help to address underlying, long-term issues of underrepresentation in the workforce among racialized communities and newcomers. The Youth Economic Recovery Table’s membership should reflect the city’s cultural, racial, and geographic diversity and enable the table to continue to champion youth opportunities once the city progresses beyond the recovery period.
The Advisory Group recognizes that Toronto is a unique and fair-minded city that is committed to shared prosperity for all of its residents. We believe that by implementing workforce strategies that support the city government’s pledge to promote diversity and share prosperity, we will emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic with a stronger economy, greater cultural dynamism and a more promising future.
Rusul Alrubail is executive director of the Parkdale Centre for Innovation. Mark Bennett is executive chair of Cassels. Zabeen Hirji is executive adviser, future of work at Deloitte. Mike Yorke is president of the Carpenters District Council of Ontario. Members of the Economic and Culture Recovery Advisory Group participated in their personal capacities. Affiliations are for identification only.
The pandemic has rapidly accelerated a transformation in the way Canadians work. Thousands of enterprises have pivoted to remote employment, connecting staff through online collaboration and video-conferencing platforms like Zoom and WebEx. At the same time, workers whose jobs cannot be carried out virtually, or who were employed in sectors where customer demand has collapsed, face unemployment.
What’s more, a cohort of promising young people have been isolated by pandemic restrictions and disconnected from employment opportunities, job experience and training. As COVID-19 abates, many lost jobs in sectors such as warehousing and transportation, construction, personal services, arts and culture, hospitality and travel will return. Others will be adjusted to accommodate pandemic-driven structural changes. While some jobs will be lost forever, in sectors such as information technology, health sciences and skilled trades, there is a pressing talent shortage.
Seismic shifts in the workplace make it imperative for the City of Toronto to develop a comprehensive, proactive workforce-development strategy that ensures our talent pool remains among the most resilient and competitive in the world. Our challenge is to adopt forward-looking strategies to help ensure that the city’s highly skilled workforce is aligned with the emerging demand for specialized, well-trained skilled labour.
As members of the Economic and Culture Recovery Advisory Group, we came together to help the city identify ways to meet that challenge. The Advisory Group was formed in June 2020 by co-chairs Michael Thompson and Blake Goldring to develop a long-term strategy to build back stronger from the pandemic.
Among the 18 recommendations in our report, approved by city council last December, three specifically address underlying talent and workforce issues. All three share a common foundation of collaboration: with the business and education sectors, with other governments and with community partners. By committing to sustained, long-term action on our recommendations, the city government will re-energize Toronto’s economy, strengthen our workforce and help create more equitable work opportunities for marginalized groups and youth.
1. Create a strategic approach to workforce development. The advisory group proposes that the municipal government bring together a broad spectrum of stakeholders to create a long-term, strategic approach to workforce development and training. Governments, Indigenous communities, the higher education sector, professional associations, trade unions and businesses all play important roles in advancing workforce development and skills training.
Collaboration is already underway in a number of sectors. For example, through the xoTO Screen Industry Pathway Initiative, the city is partnering with community organizations such as CEE Centre for Young Black Professionals, unions and other not-for-profits to offer Black workers training in film-production trades and other production jobs.
The city also connects domestic and international productions to local BIPOC talent through industry partners BIPOC TV & Film, Reelworld and ACTRA Toronto. A co-ordinated strategy for workforce development will enable Toronto to respond more broadly and effectively to the labour-market challenges and opportunities presented by the pandemic, and lay the groundwork for continued prosperity in a rapidly evolving and growing economic environment.
2. Champion support for workers as a foundation of economic recovery. The pandemic has turned the spotlight on a number of important issues facing workers, such as inadequate health and safety conditions, the alarming rise of precarious work and the need for a living wage. These issues disproportionately affect the vulnerable workers, including women, racialized people, and other equity-deserving groups that comprise a high percentage of labour in some of the hardest-hit sectors.
To build back stronger, the city needs to work with partners in business, government and labour to establish a shared commitment to confront these challenges, and use its influence to enact positive change.
3. Establish a Youth Economic Recovery Table. Youth have been hit especially hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Statistics Canada data from the end of October 2020 shows that at 22 per cent, Toronto's unemployment rate among people aged 15-24 was more than double that of the population as a whole.
Specific support from the city and community partners — particularly initiatives that address youth training, employment, and more equitable access to opportunity — is essential for recovery among this demographic. Those who are still in school, especially, need access to better training opportunities, including continued access to co-ops, apprenticeships and other experiential learning to improve their long-term employment prospects.
Expanding opportunities for young people will not only strengthen labour-force participation and competitiveness, but will also help to address underlying, long-term issues of underrepresentation in the workforce among racialized communities and newcomers. The Youth Economic Recovery Table’s membership should reflect the city’s cultural, racial, and geographic diversity and enable the table to continue to champion youth opportunities once the city progresses beyond the recovery period.
The Advisory Group recognizes that Toronto is a unique and fair-minded city that is committed to shared prosperity for all of its residents. We believe that by implementing workforce strategies that support the city government’s pledge to promote diversity and share prosperity, we will emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic with a stronger economy, greater cultural dynamism and a more promising future.
Rusul Alrubail is executive director of the Parkdale Centre for Innovation. Mark Bennett is executive chair of Cassels. Zabeen Hirji is executive adviser, future of work at Deloitte. Mike Yorke is president of the Carpenters District Council of Ontario. Members of the Economic and Culture Recovery Advisory Group participated in their personal capacities. Affiliations are for identification only.