Work is about people. We aspire to a future where Albertans, our businesses, and the economy thrive.
Alberta is built on the principles of hard work, diversity and innovation. By committing to these principles, Alberta can become the place where the brightest minds come together and solve the world’s biggest challenges.
This report—Skilled By Design: A Blueprint for Alberta’s Future Workforce—outlines a vision for Alberta’s future workforce and the path to get there.
The report covers 11 key objectives and over 50 recommendations for governments, businesses, and post-secondary institutions arranged within three broad focus areas:
- Building a Better Alberta: Alberta is a highly desirable place to do meaningful work that impacts communities, the province, and the world.
- A Culture of Lifelong Learning: We build a highly employable and adaptable workforce, enabled by an attitude of lifelong learning and supported by a strong framework of micro-credentialing programs.
- Experience-Based Training: Formal education is just one part of the process; we believe that real-work experience sets up our future workforce for success.
We’re ready to roll up our sleeves and do the necessary work to build an adaptive, innovative and progressive workforce—and to become the place where people come with drive and ambition to solve the world’s greatest challenges.
Background
As we emerge from the COVID-19 economic shutdown, Alberta’s workforce will be a critical element for economic recovery and sustainability.
Even before COVID-19 and low oil prices devastated the economy, Alberta’s economy was in transition and Alberta’s businesses and workers were facing a rapidly changing workplace, an accelerated disruption of technology, and new skill requirements.
Alberta has also been struggling to attract workers from outside the province as it is often viewed as closed, exclusive, and increasingly less innovative and entrepreneurial to others.
As well, we have failed to fully capitalize on the talent and skill of Alberta’s diverse population, including those in Indigenous, minority, and under-represented communities.
There is much work to do.
There is no better time to focus on the future of Alberta’s workforce. As we experience an economic reset, this is the opportunity to look at what the province needs to become a world-class destination for global talent to bring their skill, solutions, and spirit to tackle the biggest challenges facing the world today.
If we do this right, we will contribute to greater prosperity for all, socially and economically.
About the Task Force on Future Training & Skills
The Task Force on Future Training & Skills was struck to research and recommend actions that businesses, governments, and post-secondary institutions can take to ensure that Albertans are able to access high-quality education and training programs to advance their skills, be employed to their fullest potential, make companies more effective and competitive, and contribute to long-term shared prosperity.