This document is part of a special issue of “À lire en ligne,” a journal published annually by the Fédération canadienne pour l’alphabétisation en français (FCAF). The author served as guest editor for the 2010 issue, which was devoted exclusively to place-based learning communities.
The author describes learning cities as being distinguished by their explicit use of the concept of lifelong learning as an organizing principle and as a social and cultural goal.
In this study, carried out by the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum (CAF) during 2008, almost 1,000 employers in 16 different trades in a variety of sectors completed a survey on the costs and benefits of apprenticeship training.
The author argues that Canada is turning a blind eye to the low literacy skills of nine million adults of working age and, in doing so, is jeopardizing future economic growth and social stability.
More than 23,000 Canadian adults took part in an International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey in 2003. This survey defined literacy as “the ability to use and understand information that is fundamental to daily life at work, at home, and in the community.” Statistics Canada and Human Resources Development Canada have adopted this definition.
In this report, the authors discuss the cost and the importance of investing in literacy. They suggest that advanced literacy is the single most important tool that Canadians need to compete in the global economy and present estimates of the total cost of raising the literacy skill of the adult population to Level 3.
Linking Training Investment to Business Outcomes and the Economy
Canada’s preparedness to compete in the increasingly competitive, knowledge-based, global marketplace appears to be in jeopardy because of a lack of awareness that investing in the human capacity of Canada’s workforce is paramount to success.
What determines the differences in living standards across economies over the long run? This is the basic question that the authors of this paper attempt to answer. More specifically, this paper examines the role of human capital accumulation in explaining relative levels of income per capita across Canadian provinces between 1951 and 2001.
The City of Saint John in New Brunswick faces a challenge as it works to keep its economy growing and to attract new businesses: too few employees have the education and experience employers seek. Thousands of people with low levels of education live in some of Saint John’s poorest areas, struggling to find adequate employment and make ends meet.
