Canada’s economy is evolving rapidly. Technological, social, environmental, and political shifts will alter the nature of work — introducing new threats and uncertainties, as well as new opportunities.

The Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship has responded to these changes by publishing the Forecast of Canadian Occupational Growth, a forecast that identified the most in-demand skills in 2030.

The Employment in 2030 Action Labs initiative was designed to build on the forecast and support the design of policies and programs that help workers gain the skills and abilities they need to be resilient in the next decade.

As collaborators at BII+E, Creative Futures designed and delivered this multi-phased initiative to translate labour market information into actionable solutions.

Our Approach:

• Conducted trends research about how emerging changes might impact the future of employment in 2030, published in Yesterday’s Gone.

• Hosted an expert panel to engage 50+ labour market experts to discuss possible implications of emerging trends.

• Collaborated with five regional partners across Canada to analyze the Forecast of Canadian Occupational Growth and identify a regional focus area.

• Conducted 18 user interviews to highlight the needs and challenges for specific populations.

• Designed and delivered a two-part virtual prototyping workshop in each region. Learn more about our approach.

• Wrote a final insights report to summarize what we learned about labour market information and opportunities to support workers and job seekers.

Results:

A number of ideas emerged to address each of the regional challenges, along with recommendations for making labour market information more worker-centric. The final reports are publicly available and resources to help policy makers, researchers, practitioners, and employers to better understand key trends and leading practices that will be needed for the workforce of the future.