Federal and provincial cooperation on skills agenda will help to tackle the challenge of labor shortage

The federal and provincial governments of Canada are coming together to tackle the challenge of labor shortage in provinces through a series of new labor market agreements.

Currently, these new labor market agreements have been signed between the federal government of Canada and the provincial governments of Ontario, British Columbia (B.C.) and Saskatchewan. Under these agreements, federal government will infuse a heavy funding in provincial labor markets to help individuals and workers improve their skills in order to deal with the immediate, as well as future, needs of provincial employers for skilled workers.

These funds will primarily use to provide access to training for individuals who are working and need to improve their skills, as well as for all unemployed individuals, including those who are not eligible for Employment Insurance (EI) training programs. The funding will also help individuals too often excluded from the labor force, including Aboriginal people, immigrants, persons with disabilities, as well as those workers who lack literacy and essential skills, get the training they need to obtain meaningful and sustainable employment.

Under new Canada-British Columbia Labor Market Agreement, federal government will invest $396 million over six years into the province’s labor market, which will take effect April 1, 2008. This agreement will also support WorkBC, which is a provincial strategy for addressing B.C.'s short- and longer-term needs for more skilled and unskilled workers. Through another Canada-British Columbia new Labor Market Development Agreement (LMDA), B.C. assumes the responsibility for the design and delivery of EI funded employment benefits and support measures, along with nearly $300 million per year going forward. This will provide the province with the flexibility to focus job training programs and employment supports on the local and regional needs of both employers and clients. The Province will assume this responsibility as of February 2, 2009.

Under new Canada-Saskatchewan Labor Market Agreement, federal government will invest $90 million over six years into the province’s labor market. This agreement will take effect April 1, 2008 and complement an existing Canada-Saskatchewan LMDA, signed in 1998, under which the Province assumed responsibility for designing and delivering employment programs and services for unemployed people eligible under the EI program.

Under new Canada-Ontario Labor Market Agreement, federal government will invest nearly $1.2 billion over six years into the province’s labor market. This agreement will take effect April 1, 2008 and complement an existing Canada-Ontario LMDA, signed in 2005, under which the Province assumed responsibility as of January 2007 for designing and delivering employment programs and services for unemployed people eligible under the EI program. The new Canada-Ontario labor market agreement will also extend the Employment Ontario network, which supports foundation skills, apprenticeship and other technical skills training, and employment services.

It has been estimated that nearly 70 per cent of the jobs demand some form of post secondary education, and this new partnership between federal government and the provinces in form of new Labor Market Agreements will provide access to the education and training for individuals that will lead them to a successful career.

On the other end, the Province will gain significant economic benefits from such programs, including improvements in labor productivity, an increase in the domestic product, and better wages for lower income individuals and workers.

These and other labor market agreements are also critical for the federal government to achieve commitments made in Canada's economic plan, Advantage Canada, and the 2007 federal budget to create the best educated, most skilled, and most flexible work force in the world. Similar Labor Market Agreements are being negotiated with other provinces and territories and will be signed in the coming weeks and months. As far as the Labor Market Development Agreements are concerned, federal government has similar arrangements in six other jurisdictions including New Brunswick, Quebec, Manitoba, Alberta, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.