The news that GM will close its auto plant in Oshawa, Ontario renewed concern about what kinds of jobs will be available in Canada in the future.
‘Technology…disrupting industries’
“We know that manufacturing jobs have been in a steady state of decline in Ontario and across Canada for a number of years now,” says Sunil Johal, policy director at the independent think tank, The Mowat Centre, at the University of Toronto. “We also know that technology is disrupting a range of different industries.” For example, as its reason to close the Oshawa plant, GM cited a shift to electric and autonomous vehicles.
Repetitive jobs like that of a forklift driver are disappearing. (iStock)
Non-routine work will require humans
Canada is already seeing a loss of jobs that are routine and can be automated. They include work like telemarketing, welding auto parts, driving forklifts.
The jobs that will remain involve non-routine work, says Johal. “If somebody is doing something which is dynamic, it changes from hour to hour, day to day, whether that’s a manual job–somebody who’s an electrician or a plumber where every project they work on is different–or it’s a cognitive job where somebody is an architect or a graphic designer or a policy advisor and what they do is different everyday, those jobs are going to be really hard to automate or develop an AI algorithm that can take over those functions.”
Skills that will be required
It’s not clear if getting post-secondary education will continue to be a gateway to getting a better job. Johal notes that some large tech firms like Google, Facebook and IBM do not require job applicants to have a degree.
Johal outlines the kinds of skills that will be required in future. “Digital skills are going to be important no matter what kind of job you have, whether you’re a doctor or a lawyer or somebody who works at a software firm, obviously…So too, will people who work in a retail environment.
There will be jobs for those with empathy. (iStock)
Soft skills will be needed
“But we also know that human skills and softer skills are going to continue to be important. So, things like empathy, creativity, adaptability.”
Johal notes that Canada has an aging population and they will need and want humans to help take care of them.
It will be important for workers to be resilient and be able to adapt and retrain when they are obliged to change jobs, he says.
Johal says Canada lags behind other advanced economies in terms of social spending to support workers who lose their jobs but also in skills training based on good outcomes. He notes that countries like Denmark and France spend proportionately three times as much as Canada on skills training to position workers to meet frequent job transitions and higher skills requirements.
(photo: Mowat Centre/University of Toronto)
Sunil Johal discusses how jobs will change and the need for Canada to step up preparation.
