Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC)

PRE-SYMPOSIUM PAPER

November 2003

1. Briefly describe the profile of career development services in your jurisdiction (i.e. history, overall approach, position relative to other human resources services)

The Canadian career development system is multi-faceted and highly de-centralized. In policy terms, it reflects the division of responsibilities between federal, provincial/territorial and municipal governments in the areas of education, training and labour market matters.

Within HRDC, several branches are responsible for career development. These are mainly:

  • Human Investment Programs Branch (Human Resources Partnerships, Canada Student Loans Program)
  • Employment Programs Branch (Labour Market, Youth, Aboriginal Relations Office)
  • Strategic Policy (Applied Research, Learning, Labour Market Policy)

Five main areas of programs and services will be described:

  • Service delivery
  • Production and Dissemination of LMI and Career Information
  • Strengthening Career Development Community Capacity
  • Human Resources Management
  • Research

Service delivery

Human Resources Development Canadaplays a significant role in labour market matters, in particular through its responsibilities for Employment Insurance and a National Employment System. In recent years, funding and responsibilities for some employment programs have been devolved to the provinces and territories through Labour Market Development Agreements (LMDAs): seven (Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, North West Territories, Nunavut, Quebec and Saskatchewan) have taken on the design and delivery of career development and other services (with a few exceptions); a further five (British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Yukon) jointly plan with HRDC, which continues to deliver the services; only in Ontario are career development services still both planned and delivered by HRDC.

Production and Dissemination of LMI and Career Information

The collection and analysis of labour market information (LMI) represents a major area of activity in the public employment services in Canada, and an area where HRDC has maintained a clear leadership role based upon its legal responsibilities in this respect. This includes responsibility for information on jobs, occupations, career paths and learning opportunities, as well as national, regional and local labour market trends. For example, HRDC coordinates the development and dissemination of local labour market information by Labour Market Information Analysts (LMIAs) who work in regional and local offices. This information is used by career development practitioners and job seekers.

In the area of occupational and career awareness information, HRDC, through shared funding with its partners, makes career-related products, services and information available to all Canadians. These partnerships help to ensure that skills information and human resource issues are addressed across Canada. For example:

  • the Canada Career Consortium (CCC), which is an advisory board consisting of youth and equity groups, career information producers, professional associations, sector councils, private and voluntary sector organizations, and representatives of the federal, provincial and territorial governments. Their main activities include the facilitation of a co-ordinated strategy for the dissemination of career information, the management of several national career information projects, and the identification of career and labour market issues that warrant further study. Some popular examples are Canada Prospects, Career Directions, Destination 2020, The Work Handbook, NATCON, and Canada Career Week support material.
  • the Canadian Career Information Partnership (CCIP), which is a national network that provides meaningful career and labour market information for all Canadians by sharing ideas and information. They provide a direct link to provincial and territorial Ministries of Education.
  • The Canadian Alliance of Education and Training Organizations (CAETO is an alliance of 9 national associations in the education and training sector. CAETO provides a common meeting place for education and training providers to facilitate information sharing, networking and collaborative activities. CAETO addresses regulatory and operational issues, such as the equitable access, articulation and prior learning assessment and recognition projects.
  • CanLearn, which provides interactive tools and information for individuals to make informed decisions in the selection and financing of post-secondary education. Within the site, CanLearn Pro acts as a forum for the learning and career development community to participate in the ongoing evolution of the information, resources and tools provided by CanLearn. It also provides Internet-based guidance and counselling services through qualified on-line counsellors.
  • The Jobs Workers Training and Careers (JWTC) site of Government on Line provides easy access through the Internet to a wide variety of information of use to those planning careers and making job search decisions.

Strengthening Career Development Community Capacity

HRDC has a long tradition of support,through shared funding,activities aiming to develop career development as a professional field. For example:

  • The National Standards and Guidelines for Career Development Practitioners, which spell out the competencies that career development practitioners need in order to offer the highest quality of services to their clients. These competencies represent the composite of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that practitioners have identified as important to be effective.
  • Blueprint for Life/Work Designs, which maps out the life/work competencies Canadians need to master in order to pro-actively and self-reliantly manage their career-building process from K-Adult. It provides administrators and practitioners a systematic process of developing, implementing, evaluating and marketing career development programs or redesigning and enhancing existing programs.
  • The annual national conference in career development (NATCON) which attracts over 1000 practitionersfrom across Canada every year.
  • Activities designed to bridge the gap between the career development field and public policy, such as two international symposia organized in Ottawa (1999)and in Vancouver (2001), and an OECD meeting held in Toronto (October 2003) on career development services involving 28 countries.

Human Resources Management

  • The Workplace Skills Strategy positions HRDC to take concerted and coherent action in addressing the issue of skills development in and for the workplace. This strategy recognizes that the workplace is an important venue where both employers and workers experience firsthand the pressure of skills and labour shortages associated with the rapid technological and demographic changes which are transforming the Canadian economy. The major components of this strategy are:
  • Sectoral Partnerships Initiative (SPI), which supports sector councils and the work they do in helping address human resource and skills issues in certain sectors of Canada's labour market. SPI primarily supports research and project-activity proposed by sector councils. The Initiative also supports the establishment and development of new councils in sectors of the economy that are experiencing difficulties with human resource and skills issues.
  • Working with all partners and stakeholders to revitalize support for apprenticeship:
  • Essential Skills/Workplace Literacy Initiative to enhance the skills levels of Canadians who are entering or already in the workforce.
  • Foreign Credential Recognition by working in partnership with governments, regulatory bodies and employers to facilitate foreign credential assessment and recognition.
  • HRDC is also working with provincial and territorial governments, training institutions, educators, business, labour and equity groups to eliminate inter-provincial barriers for trades and regulated occupations and improve labour mobility in Canada.
  • The Human Resources Management (HRM) site of Government on Line is designed to help small- to medium- sized businesses save time and money by providing government and non-government information that is local to national in scope to help these businesses manage human resources on a day-by-day basis.

Research on National Tools and Frameworks

Finally, HRDC has supported research projects for many years in the field of career development. For example:

  • Essential skills: As part of this research effort, HRDC launched the Essential Skills and Workplace Literacy Initiative. Essential skills are defined as generic, transferable, enabling skills that help people perform the tasks required by their occupation and other activities of their daily lives. These skills also improve an individual’s capacity to learn other skills including technical or management skills. The Department has conducted extensive research on essential skills to examine how these skills are used in different ways and at difference levels of complexity in different occupations.
  • National Occupational Classification (NOC): A widely recognized, comprehensive system that describes and organizes occupations in the Canadian economy. It represents a classification structure done in partnership with Statistics Canada with descriptions of the 520 occupational unit groups - covering more than 30,000 job titles that constitute the Canadian labour market. The Career Handbook is the counseling component of the NOC, designed primarily for career counsellors, vocational rehabilitation specialists and educators.
  • National Occupational and Skills Standards: These human resources tools describe the skills and knowledge needed to perform competently in the workplace. Occupational skills standards are an essential starting point to help educators and trainers give learners the skills and abilities that an industry requires as well as helping workers and employers determine their unique training needs.
  • Job Futures:this is a comprehensive career tool to help counsellors for their clients and/or users plan for themselves. It provides useful background, skills, credential, labour market trends information about 226 occupational groups and describes the work experiences of recent graduates from 155 programs of study.

2. What are the career development services in your jurisdiction?

In addition to the production and dissemination of career and occupational related information described in the previous question, HRDC provides direct labour exchange services through the following two mechanisms:

  • The Job Bank, which is an electronic listing of jobs, work or business opportunities provided by employers from across Canada.
  • The Electronic Labour Exchange which matches work to people and people to work.

HRDC ensurescareer development services are provided to different clientele through the following three main mechanisms:

  • Employment Assistance Services (EAS)

Under this program, HRDC provides the services outlined below through contribution agreements with community agencies and organizations. In jurisdictions with fully devolved LMDAs, HRDC provides funding to the province/territory for design and delivery of these services.

EAS Program Objectives

  • To assist individuals to prepare for, obtain and maintain employment
  • To provide unemployed individuals with services to help them find and keep jobs. Services may include: counselling, job search skills, job placement services and labour market information.

There are four (4) basic types of Employment Assistance Services (EAS) sponsored projects:

  • Information Resource Centres
  • Assessment (needs assessment)
  • Counselling Centres,
  • A combination of all three of the above.
  • Aboriginal Human Resource Development Agreements

Another important source of funding for community based employment services is the Aboriginal Human Resource Development Agreement (AHRDA). Through the AHRDAs, funding is provided to Aboriginal groups under five components:

  • capacity building: to improve the administrative and management capacity of aboriginal organizations that deliver services and programs under the agreement.
  • labour market programs: the same types of services offered through regular Labour Market Programs, only tailored to meet the needs of aboriginal people.
  • child care: with better access to child care, First Nations and Inuit parents are better able to work or take training to improve the financial prospects of their families. It also leads to early child development and health.
  • youth: this funding enables Aboriginal organizations to deliver a host of youth programs for summer employment, community service, entrepreneurship and internships. Aboriginal groups may decide to design youth programs that are unique to their communities or simply adopt HRDC's youth programs as a model.
  • disabled: this funding has been set aside to ensure that access to training and employment opportunities is increased for Aboriginal people with disabilities; e.g. the National Aboriginal Clearing House)

There are currently 79 separate AHRDAs, designed to be all-inclusive, meaning that they serve Métis, Inuit and First Nations groups both on- and off-reserve (including urban clients). Each AHRDA holder is given the authority to design and deliver labour market programs that meet their own needs. A component of some AHRDAs is collection of LMI specific to their particular group.
The Youth Employment Strategy

The Youth Employment Strategy (YES) is the Government of Canada’s commitment to help young people, particularly those facing barriers to employment, get the information and gain the skills, work experience and abilities they need to make a successful transition to the workplace. The Youth Employment Strategy is a key element of the Government of Canada’s Innovation and Learning Strategy.

Designed for youth between the ages of 15 and 30, legally entitled to work in Canada, who are:out of school and facing barriers to employment;secondary or post-secondary students returning to full-time studies; post-secondary graduates; and not in receipt of Employment Insurance (EI) benefits.

YES is administered by businesses, organizations (including not-for-profit, professional, employer and labour associations), public health and educational institutions, band/tribal councils and municipal governments which receive contribution agreements from HRDC.

Fourteen Government of Canada departments and agencies work in partnership with all levels of government, the private sector and community organizations to help youth in finding employment.

The Youth Employment Strategy, which was realigned as of April 2003, includes three programs:

  • Skills Link provides funding for community organizations to help youth facing barriers to employment—such as single parents, Aboriginal youth, young persons with disabilities, recent immigrants, youth living in rural and remote areas and high school dropouts—develop the skills, knowledge and work experience they need to participate in the job market.
  • Career Focus provides funding for employers to help post-secondary graduates get career-related work experience and develop advanced skills.
  • Summer Work Experience provides wage subsidies that create summer employment opportunities for secondary and post-secondary students, and support the operation of summer employment offices. This program is delivered in partnership with various private, public and not for profit groups.

3. What are the lifelong learning challenges in your jurisdiction to which career development services could respond? How could career development services respond to these challenges?

  • In order to make informed choices, end users need to have access to information on career, learning and employment. Through different initiatives, it has been identified that, from an information point of view, we need to address these two challenges:
  • Better coordination of the distribution and integration of the career information for the end users, counsellors, teachers, students, adults in career transition. Several pan-Canadian organizations are already in place. Could we build more on the work they are doing?
  • More emphasis could be put on assistance to the user to interpret the information for decision making.
  • Workers do not have enough opportunities to ‘learn while they earn’.
  • A possible response would be to identify and facilitate the accessibility of worker training programs. The CanLearn Website could be one way to disseminate information on development of this type.
  • Motivation: Many adults report an awareness of the importance of learning and the need for more training. Few, however, follow through and actually undertake learning. Despite the traditional focus on barriers to learning, it appears that motivation and commitment are at least as important in removing barriers. Groups and individuals for whom learning is a priority and who are highly motivated do better in formal learning settings than others. Management literature and anecdotal evidence underscore the importance of motivation to successful change and learning.
  • At the moment, a research agenda is being developed within HRDC to examine motivation and learning. The role of career development and career development policy will comprise this research.
  • It is estimated that the learning recognition gap costs $4.6 billion in income annually; the skills and experience of Canada’s workforce are going unrecognized and are under-utilized.
  • Development and wide implementation of prior learning assessment and recognition (PLAR) processes would help individuals complete degrees and have their qualifications recognized in the workplace.
  • Small firms face special barriers: Difficult to achieve economies of scale. Knowledge and information about training and training providers can be difficult. Retention of trained employees can also be a problem.
  • Through the development of industry specific information and programming, Sector Councils could help smaller firms in their sector with training decisions.
  • The Human Resources Management (HRM) site of Government on Line is designed to help small- to medium- sized businesses manage human resources on a day-by-day basis.

4. What are the workforce development challenges in your province/territory to which career development services could respond; and how could career development services respond to these challenges?

  • The need in the Knowledge Based Economy for adult workers to continually maintain and enhance skills as demands evolve and increase.
  • This is an area where labour market information and career development services can play a role in guiding workers.
  • Along with a declining workforce, employers are placing an increasingly higher premium on skilled workers. Between 2002 and 2007, occupations that require less than high school education are expected to account for less than six per cent of new jobs, whereas more than 70 per cent of new jobs will require at least some post-secondary education. In addition to these trends, youth are recognizing the need to get an education that prepares them for success in the labour market.
  • Career planning, resume writing, teamwork and personal development activities prepare youth for entering the workforce. A flexible mix of program instruments i.e. career development services enables the Youth Employment Strategy to respond to differing needs at different points in the economic cycle and to different regional conditions and types of employment barriers.
  • The under-representation of Designated Employment Equity Groups in certain trades and professions in the workforce.
  • An element of response to this issue, would be a successful use of labour market information and research to improve labour market efficiency; helping adults, particularly disadvantaged groups, to better participate in the labour market through comprehensive career development and employment programs.
  • While the majority of Canadian youth are making a successful transition to the labour market, some continue to face severe challenges. In 2001, approximately one-in-ten young Canadians remained out of work and out of school and continued to experience poor employment outcomes. Although the number of out-of-school/out-of-work youth has declined in the past two decades, the labour market prospects of this group are deteriorating in today’s skills-oriented labour market and these youth are at risk of long-term exclusion from the labour market. Among these at-risk cohorts, Aboriginal youth are among the fastest growing segment of Canada’s youth population.
  • Career development services could respond to these challenges by better targeting youth facing barriers to employment and addressing the specific barriers that young individuals face. Partnerships with provincial/territorial governments and community-based service providers could also help in being better equipped to contribute to a sustainable network of supports that could help these young people at various times in their lives.
  • Changing demographics of workforce – Successful and timely integration of skilled and highly educated immigrants.
  • Facilitate the recognition of prior learning and foreign credentials; provide support for individuals to undertake career-work improvement initiatives; literacy and language training programs with a labour market focus.
  • Equipping the working poor and unemployed with adequate technical literacy and access to technology.
  • Provide assessment tools, resources, and research mechanisms for career development services, to enhance the ‘Essential Skills’ of Canadians.

5. How can providers of career development services (researchers, developers, educators and practitioners), employers and policy makers be more effective sources of expertise and support for each others?