National Adult Literacy Database

The Government of Canada is looking for volunteers. Try out an early version of the problem-solving and reasoning ability component of the new Public Service Entrance Exam this summer and get feedback on your performance!

Government figures show that Canada issued 34,185 temporary work permits to Americans last year, just shy of the record 35,060 handed out in 2010, and officials expect that number to keep growing.

Employees most likely to suffer burnout are those who feel trapped in their current jobs and have no prospects for alternative employment, says Alexandra Panaccio, assistant professor of management at Concordia University’s John Molson School of Business. They’re aware that “if you lose the job, you lose all the resources that come with that job, such as salary and benefits.”

The report explores skilled labour shortages in five trades in five Canadian provinces - Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador. CGA-Canada looked at the five largest trade groups: carpenters; automotive service technicians, truck and bus mechanics and mechanical repairers; welders and related machine operators; construction millwrights and industrial mechanics; and electricians.

In the Conceptual Age, right-brain skills will be key. Given the velocity of change and the complexity that results from this, we need to go beyond just knowledge or expertise. The best employees of the future will excel at creative problem solving and different ways of thinking -- synthesizing seemingly diverse things together for better solutions, using metaphors to explain new ideas for which no context yet might exist.

Today, managers no longer have to hire the "best qualified" candidate and can hire someone who is competent, qualified and the "right fit."

Workers affected by the Bowater closure in Queens County, Nova Scotia, are getting career specialists to help them train and find new employment.

Consulting firm Towers Watson says it has found evidence that employers with a fully engaged workforce tend to have higher profit margins. The firm’s study covered some 32,000 employees, including 1,000 in Canada. It found that about two-thirds of the Canadian employees surveyed weren’t “fully engaged” in their work and felt frustrated by the level of support they receive.

A European study claims that the UK has an oversupply of low-skilled workers, but demand is falling and there is a shortage of workers with high-quality vocational skills. It also continues to have a relatively high number of adults with very poor basic literacy and numeracy skills, who are not well placed to benefit from vocational training.

Twenty-seven managers and supervisors from a dozen companies in Nova Scotia learned how to work more efficiently by communicating better with staff through jobsHere training delivered by the province. The 40-hour program was jointly organized with the Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium, a not-for-profit that helps member companies become more competitive, more profitable and better managed.

According to Randstad Canada, in order to achieve work-life balance, it's important for workers to set boundaries between their work and personal lives as the line between work and home continues to blur.

The strategy outlines three policy issues which should form the basis of skills policies: firstly to develop relevant skills to meet current and emerging economic needs; secondly to “activate” the skills held by working-age unemployed by integrating under-represented groups into the labour market and removing demand-side barriers to hiring; and thirdly “putting skills to effective use,” ensuring that skills are used effectively in employment by enlarging demand of skills.

The third annual Essential Skills Day will take place September 21, 2012, to raise awareness of the nine essential skills as defined by the Government of Canada and the importance of training in the workplace.

Skills/Compétences Canada, a not-for-profit organization that actively promotes careers in skilled trades and technologies, has announced that the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry (UA Canada) has signed on as a presenting sponsor of the next three Skills Canada National Competitions.

"If work-life balance is important to you, define what that means and weigh the job against realistic criteria that is within your control. And remember, that criteria may change, and so the may the job a few years down the road."