The great skills divide : Grand fossé des compétences : revue de la littérature

By framing Canada’s skills gap in this way, we set the stage for the second and third papers of this series, which document the expectations of Canadian employers with regard to the skill levels of new graduate hires. [...] In tackling the question of the skills gap at its interface – the initial point of contact between employers and new graduates in the advertisements and hiring processes for entry-level jobs – reports in this series provide new opportunities for groups on both the demand (employers) and supply (postsecondary) sides of the skills gap debate to strengthen alignment between the postsecondary sector a [...] The series concludes with the third report (Bridging the Divide, Part II), which reviews the findings of a follow-up survey of the employers who posted the 316 vacancies discussed in the second report, to better understand what skills employers are actually looking for (and saying they cannot find) and how they are articulating their demand for these skills. [...] Ahead of the government’s February 2014 budget, Canada’s Department of Finance reported a steady increase in the share of available unfilled jobs (the vacancy rate) beginning in 2009, potentially indicative of a misalignment between the skills of the unemployed and those required by employers (Department of Finance, 2014). [...] However, economists Green and Riddell (2007; 2013) have looked extensively at the data on literacy provided by both the Canadian component of the 2003 IALS and the 1994 IALSS, examining how the skills of Canadian adults have evolved between the two surveys.