• Skills training budgets are among the first that businesses tend to cut when facing cash flow problems.
• There is a heavy emphasis on meeting current skills requirements; it is much more difficult to assess the future needs of the workplace.
• The rapid pace of change in technologies and business processes means that existing skills sets can also become rapidly redundant while new capabilities are in short supply.
• Skills shortages are not uniform across all parts of Canada or all industries within manufacturing.
• Manufacturers in rural areas of the country, and in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and the Atlantic provinces in particular, find it difficult to attract and retain skilled workers. They find that locally educated workers leave the region for more attractive employment opportunities elsewhere.
• Skills shortages must be addressed first at the local level. Some communities and sector councils do this well. But, most communities do not have a strategic approach to meeting the skills requirements of their local businesses. National or provincial strategies for skills development do not work if they do not deliver meaningful results to local businesses and communities.;
• Smaller companies do not have the resources to assess future requirements or undertake long-term human resource planning activities. Many smaller companies find it difficult to meet their own training requirements.
• The specialization of production and businesses processes in specific companies and sub-sectors of manufacturing makes a general approach to skills development difficult to achieve.

Recommendations for Action

Manufacturers must work more effectively with labour groups, educators, training programs, sector councils, and professional associations to identify, assess, and communicate their future workforce requirements.

Business, engineering, and technical educational and skills training programs must aim to meet the needs of business more effectively.

Manufacturers and other businesses, together with labour groups, educational institutions, local economic development agencies, and sector councils must coordinate local approaches to skills development.

Provincial and federal governments must ensure that their skills development strategies and programs deliver results at the local level.

Businesses, educators, and training programs must customize their approach to skills development with respect to the requirements of specific communities, industrial sectors, and business types.

Stronger synergies must be found across colleges and training programs that would offer them greater economies of scale and communities local access into a network of training resources across Canada.