i. Workforce strategies need to be in place to address future business needs.

Our Vision

• People are treated as an asset whose knowledge and capabilities are to be developed, enhanced, and invested in.
• Human resource management is viewed as a strategic priority by businesses.
• Sector councils, businesses, labour groups, educational institutions, and skills training programs are able to project future workforce requirements based on demographics and businesses plans.
• Our education and immigration systems have created an available pool of highly knowledgeable, skilled, and technically capable workers.
• Businesses and educational institutions are collaborating in planning and developing required curricula and skills training programs.
• Businesses have access to the best in the way of knowledge and skills from around the world.
• Manufacturers are investing in developing the specific skills they require within their workforce.
• Manufacturers collaborate to share skills and scarce human resources.

Challenges

• Manufacturers are facing a looming waive of retirements and the loss of people with valuable skill sets and experience. The next cohort of senior employees is much smaller. Companies will therefore depend on recruiting new talent. But, skills sets that are being lost will not easily be replaced and experience is often lacking in new recruits.
• There is a mismatch between the types of skills that are present or being developed in the workforce and actual job requirements. A large percentage of manufacturers report difficulties in finding people with the skills they require, although at the same time unemployment rates remain relatively high.
• Canada’s manufacturers do not rate many of the educational and training alternatives available to them as very useful in meeting their particular skills requirements. (See Tables 20, 21, and 22.) According to CME’s 2004 Management Issues Survey, internal training, college programs, and apprenticeships are the only types of education and training identified as satisfactory, effective, or very effective in preparing workers with the skills required by 50% or more of manufacturers across the country. Companies find that immigration and on-line learning are least effective in meeting their skills needs.
  
  Generally speaking, there is not a great degree of variation across provinces in the way that manufacturers evaluate education and training programs. The two provinces that do show a significant difference from the norm are Manitoba and Quebec where manufacturers have a relatively low opinion of apprenticeships as well as external and internal training programs. Levels of satisfaction tend to rise in direct relation to company size.