National Adult Literacy Database

Having two careers at once is an ambitious proposition and yet not that unusual these days. For some people, a second career may be about creating an additional income stream. For others, it’s about a passion.

“Volunteers are fundamental to the health of our communities nationwide because they support us and everything we do,” said Ruth MacKenzie, President and CEO of Volunteer Canada. “Recognizing Canada’s 13.3 million volunteers effectively inspires them to stay engaged and involved.”

The overlap between work and private time in Canada is substantial, according to a new report. A total of 46 per cent handle private matters during working hours, 51 per cent handle work-related matters in private time, and 44 per cent receive work-related calls or e-mails when on holiday.

Following four months of little change, employment increased by 82,000 in March, mostly in full-time work. This brought the unemployment rate down 0.2 percentage points to 7.2 per cent.

The Essential Skills in the Gaming Industry website contains a wealth of information about the industry itself and responsible gaming. It also features a new series of documents to assist individuals with their skill levels beyond the core competencies required for employment positions. The series is also available in the NALD library.

“As the Canadian labour market tightens and the natural resources sectors expand, we have a unique opportunity for an educated, skilled Aboriginal population to become full participants in a robust Canadian economy,” said John Duncan, federal Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, in Calgary recently.

In 2012-2013 CLLN, funded by OLES, will conduct a large-scale survey of L/ES practitioners to get a comprehensive picture of who works in the L/ES field. The study will allow CLLN to provide a picture of the demographics of L/ES practitioners as well as what kinds of work they do, where they do it and how they do it.

Dr. Philip Hunter, a director in PwC's People and Change practice, believes that Gen Xers are perhaps being "squeezed" by older workers delaying retirement, and younger, more aggressive Gen Ys intent on rising through the ranks quickly.

This webinar hopes to bring together a wide variety of stakeholders to discuss the importance of essential skills for immigrants in today's knowledge-based economy, to exchange valuable information and to showcase innovative approaches on how to support the development of immigrants' essential skills.

“Change is everywhere in today’s workplace,” says Bill Stirling, CEO of the National Adult Literacy Database. “New technologies, global competitors, new markets and changing standards or certifications mean that workers today are constantly dealing with change. They have to be continuous learners and problem solvers.”

There are three components to the problem of labour shortages. The first two – an aging and shrinking work force, and a knowledge-skills shortage – have been well documented. But the third is a shortage of the essential skills required in any job.

In rural and remote areas of Canada, women make up approximately 45 per cent of the labour force, but significant gaps still exist between women and men in labour force participation rates, employment rates and income. This year's theme for International Women's Day and International Women's Week celebrates women's roles in the economic prosperity of rural, remote and Northern regions.

From the stockroom to the executive suite everyone is impacted by the need to constantly improve his or her digital technology skills. But sadly it’s the workers at the lowest levels, the ones who can least afford it, who suffer most and are the hardest hit by these changes.

The Canadian Education Statistics Council (CESC), a partnership between the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) and Statistics Canada, has just published a new fact sheet on educational attainment and employment rates at the pan-Canadian and provincial and territorial levels. The fact sheet also includes data for 12 OECD countries that are of key comparative interest for Canada.

Most Canadians expect to work past the age of 66 — and the majority of those workers say it will be because they need to, not because they want to, a new survey suggests.