WINNIPEG, MB , July 25, 2022 /CNW/ - Canada's economic recovery is well underway. We have recovered 115% of the jobs lost during pandemic. In fact, our economic growth is beginning to outpace the ability of some employers to find workers. The country has faced shifting demographics, new technologies, and different practices, such as gig and part-time work. New sectors like green technology are growing rapidly. The ways we work, such as teleworking and digitalization, are creating more options for people. Now, more than ever, it's critical that workers have the foundational and transferable skills they need to adapt, and thrive in the evolving workforce of today.
Today, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, Carla Qualtrough, announced that the Government of Canada is investing over $3.8 million in Workplace Education Manitoba (WEM) through the Skills for Success program. WEM's Workplace Connections project will help 120 people become certified Skills for Success practitioners. As practitioners, they will design and deliver employer-focused skills training, tailored to the specific needs of 60 different workplaces, predominantly in manufacturing. About 500 workers across Canada, including in Manitoba, will benefit from this training.
Launched in May 2021, the Skills for Success program focuses on nine foundational and transferable skills that Canadians need to participate, adapt and thrive in learning, work and life. They include foundational skills like writing, reading and numeracy, and socio-emotional skills – the human skills required for effective social interaction, such as collaboration, communication, problem solving, adaptability, and creativity and innovation.
The Skills for Success program is helping address Canada's immediate and long-term training needs, particularly for under-represented groups in the labour market, including Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities and racialized Canadians. The projects funded by the Skills for Success program will contribute to an estimated 90,000 job training opportunities, helping deliver on the Government's commitment to create 500,000 new training and work opportunities for Canadians.
"As new industries emerge, and the ways that we work evolve, we need to ensure Canadians have the foundational skills to adapt and thrive in any workplace. Through the Skills for Success Program, we're investing in partners across the country like Workplace Education Manitoba, who are helping to create a strong, skilled and resilient workforce for Canada."
– Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, Carla Qualtrough
"Ensuring Canadians have the skills they need for both the jobs of today, and tomorrow, are critical in addressing the labour shortage in several industries and sectors across our economy. Our government's investments in skills training here in Manitoba will help develop those needed skills, fill those jobs, and grow an inclusive economy that works for everyone.
– Minister of Northern Affairs, Minister for PrairiesCan, Minister for CanNor, and Member of Parliament for Saint Boniface – Saint Vital, Dan Vandal
"As organizations across Canada navigate post-Covid labour pool shifts, the ability to have a skilled, adaptable, and resilient workforce is increasingly important. This investment from the Government of Canada will empower individuals in the fields of leadership, human resources, training and development to become certified and integrate these competencies into their training."
– Kara Finney, Chief Executive Officer, Workplace Education Manitoba
- Workplace Education Manitoba is receiving an investment of $3,893,050 for its Workplace Connections Skills for Success project.
- Announced in Budget 2021, the Government of Canada is investing nearly $298M over three years in the Skills for Success Program. This funding will support Canadians at all skill levels to improve their foundational and transferable skills to better prepare for, get and keep a job, and adapt and succeed at work.
- Currently, 45 per cent of Canadians lack the literacy, numeracy, and digital skills that are increasingly necessary to succeed in jobs in the knowledge economy.
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SOURCE Employment and Social Development Canada
Tara Beauport, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion, [email protected], 343-576-1628; Media Relations Office, Employment and Social Development Canada, 819-994-5559, [email protected]
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