{"id":17492,"date":"2014-03-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-11T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teachonlinecn.wpengine.com\/tools-trends\/articles\/how-online-learning-can-help-address-the-talent-and-skills-challenge-for-the-new-economy\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T12:34:57","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T17:34:57","slug":"how-online-learning-can-help-address-talent-and-skills-challenge-new-economy","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/teachonline.ca\/fr\/tools-trends\/articles\/how-online-learning-can-help-address-talent-and-skills-challenge-new-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"How Online Learning Can Help Address the Talent and Skills Challenge for the New Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ontario should lead the online skills learning agenda in Canada<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As Premier Kathleen Wynne\u2019s call to action and the invitation to the\u00a0March 18, 2014 Summit on Talent and Skills in the New Economy points out, Ontario, like all other jurisdictions in Canada, faces a major skills challenge now and for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

A knowledge economy demands more skilled and highly qualified people at a time when many of those seeking work do not have the skills employers are looking for.\u00a0 We need to a look at innovative approaches to building and sustaining a highly qualified workforce in Ontario.\u00a0 One of the innovative (and cost-effective) ways to do this is through the systematic use of online learning, an area where Ontario is a recognized leader in Canada.<\/p>\n

The Challenge<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Conference Board of Canada, in its 2013 report The Need to Make Skills Work \u2013 The Cost of Ontario\u2019s Skills Gap<\/em><\/a>, suggests that skills shortages and the mismatch of skills between those seeking work and those seeking workers is costing Ontario some $24 billion annually in lost economic growth and $3.7 billion in lost provincial tax revenue.<\/p>\n

Demographers suggest that a competitive, knowledge-driven economy needs some 75-77% of its workforce to hold some post-secondary qualifications, enabling the skills gap to be narrowed and new innovations to be more quickly adopted and put to use. \u00a0Ontario leads Canada with 57% of its workforce in 2010 holding some post-secondary educational qualification \u2013 up from 45% in 2000, and considerably higher than the OECD jurisdictional average of 30%.<\/p>\n

Ontario has expanded its post-secondary system in systematic and substantial ways since 2003, and has the highest aggregate post-secondary completion rate in Canada. \u00a0It is doing a lot of things right.<\/p>\n

Yet, forecasters are confident that their predictions of skills shortages are right. Miner (2010) saw scenarios of between 200,000 and 1.8 million skilled job vacancies in Ontario by 2031 if no action focused on the skills mismatch is taken \u2013 numbers echoed by others, including the Ontario Workforce Coalition<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These skills shortages are occurring when unemployment, especially amongst young people, is high in Ontario \u2013 currently 7.5%<\/a>, with youth unemployment (15-24 year olds) at around 16%. \u00a0For every vacancy in Ontario, there are eight potential persons chasing that position.<\/p>\n

What can be done to narrow the skills gap, increase educational attainment within Ontario\u2019s workforce and continue to build a high employment, competitive knowledge economy in Ontario?<\/p>\n

Many suggestions have been made, but these are common:<\/p>\n