The Sector Council Research Project

The Sector Council Program is linked to Canada’s Workplace Skills Strategy, which aims to help Canadians acquire the skills needed for meaningful and productive employment. The Government of Canada, through the Sector Council Program, works with business, unions, employees, and other levels of government to ensure that Canadians have the opportunity to develop their skills and succeed, and to ensure that the needs of employers are met.

In 2006 and 2008, in support of the Sector Council Research Project, The Conference Board of Canada has analyzed and documented the impact of sector council interventions on businesses. In particular, how workplace productivity and profitability are impacted.

This project is funded by the Government of Canada's Sector Council Program.

The opinions and interpretations in these publications are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Government of Canada.

Project Research

There are three core areas of research: 

Literature review 

• Key Economic and Labour Force Issues Facing Canada's Manufacturing Sector 
• The Skills Factor in Productivity and Competitiveness / How Canada’s Sector Councils are Helping Address the Skills and Labour Needs of Employers

Issue Statements

Issue Statement #1—Changing Employers’ Behaviour About Training 
Canada’s Training Challenges—Given Canada’s ageing workforce and coming predicted labour shortages, lifelong learning plays a critical role for our nation’s future prosperity. To remain competitive and sustain our way of life, Canada must consider human capital development in its entirety. We must not only develop the skills and knowledge of our next-generation of workers; we must also enhance the skills and knowledge of the current stock of people in our labour force. What more can be done? What more can employers do? How might Sector Councils play a bigger role in bridging the skills gap? 

Issue Statement #2—Sector Councils: How to Enhance and Extend their Regional Reach
How Sector Councils Can Get and Maintain a Regional Edge—The challenge facing the Sector Council Program and Sector Councils is how to move from individual Sector Council successes to systemic implementation and gain maximum regional edge. Maximizing human capital is central to the Government of Canada’s Workplace Skills Strategy as it pursues more active labour market policies to develop a highly skilled, adaptable and resilient workforce; and establishes a labour market that is flexible, efficient, innovative and productive. Canada’s national system of Sector Councils is designed to help achieve these goals.

Issue Statement #3—Sector Councils: A Platform to Build On? What Else Might Sector Councils Do? 
Call to Action—Sector councils have done much to help in the development of a skilled and productive workforce. Is there a greater role for them to play? What else, or what more, might sector councils do?

Case Studies

Examples of eight Sector Council initiatives. These best practices illustrate the impacts they are having on individuals, businesses, industries and economies. Register with our e-Library and download the reports for free.

2008

• Apparel Human Resources Council 
• Canadian Plastics Sector Council 
• Textiles Human Resources Council 
• Wood Manufacturing Council

2006

• Canadian Aviation Maintenance Sector Council 
• Canadian Automotive Repair & Service Council 
• Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council 
• Canadian Trucking Human Resources Council 
• Construction Sector Council 
• ECO Canada 
• Forum for International Trade Training 
• Software Human Resource Sector Council

Symposium

Sector Council Symposium: Canada’s Competitive Advantage
September 25-26th, 2005

At this event, the project’s research findings were presented. The event engaged sector councils, employers, business, government, labour, education and other professional groups in a number of meaningful discussions on the impact of sector council interventions.

• Symposium agenda
• Symposium report