Operational Plan 2021-2022
Our 2021–2022 Operational Plan comes at a pivotal moment. In 2020, we undertook an independent organizational review and assessment of progress. This assessment worked as a guide for our focus in the years ahead. It ensures that our path forward builds on the lessons of the past three years and enables LMIC to better support Canadians to navigate the future world of work. One thing that has not changed is our commitment to openness and transparency in the work we do to serve Canadians.
This Operational Plan 2021–2022 is the first that is aligned with our new five-year strategic plan. These new strategic goals will ensure that LMIC continues to develop its role as a key stakeholder and facilitator in the labour market information (LMI) ecosystem over the next five years. Our plan contains seven objectives, with several initiatives, organized under three key goals: to Guide LMI systems, to Enhance LMI practices and to Champion LMI access.
Our 2021-2025 Strategic Goals
Foster an innovative LMI ecosystem
Objective: Access to in-demand work requirementsTo help Canadians navigate the changing world of work, better labour market information is required about in-demand work requirements and skills. Currently there is a gap in the data collection, analysis and dissemination of skills-related data, especially for more detailed job categories. |
Initiative
Monthly dashboard updates
Update the Canadian Job Trends Dashboard monthly with data from Vicinity Jobs. Highlight job postings and work requirements, organized by time, geography and occupation.
Initiative
Additional insights at the sub-occupation level
Work with Vicinity Jobs to increase the level of granularity currently available in our Canadian Online Job Posting Dashboard by providing sub-occupation level data. At the same time, we will work with Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) to validate the forthcoming profiles and job descriptor ratings in their Skills and Competencies Taxonomy at the same sub-occupation level.
Initiative
New skills indicators
Harness and test new technologies and innovative data sources to improve the availability of skills-related data and insights.
Objective: User experience of tools, data and resourcesFinding, accessing, understanding and using LMI have all been identified as significant LMI-related challenges. As we continue our work to address barriers faced by Canadians, we will create resources that are meaningful, relevant and responsive to the needs of users and we will encourage others to do the same. |
Initiative
User needs and experiences
Continue to develop, test and validate new data, tools and resources through direct user feedback, stakeholder consultations, workshops, focus groups and other methods. Provide guidance on how to improve the user experience of these resources. Evolve and expand how we distribute and promote our tools through partnerships and digital communications strategies.
Collaborate with stakeholders to address LMI priorities
Objective: LMI needs of CanadiansAt the core of our work is providing relevant and targeted LMI contextualized for individual users. To attain this, we must conduct research and engage with Canadians and stakeholders to identify data needs of Canadians when making career- and workplace-related decisions. |
Initiative
Increase understanding of career-related decisions
Conduct research to understand how Canadians make career-related decisions through literature reviews and consultations with stakeholders, career practitioners and other LMI intermediaries. Part of this work will entail forming a Career Guidance Stakeholder Committee comprised of career development, talent acquisition, technological innovation and vulnerable populations experts to advise on career decisions of the different population groups in Canada.
Initiative
Adult and youth surveys on incidence of career guidance
Conduct surveys on the incidence of career services for adults and youth offered across Canada through public employment services, community-based agencies, educational institutions, workplaces and private providers. Work collaboratively with the OECD and the Future Skills Centre (FSC) to analyze the experience of adults using career services across Canada in an international context.
Initiative
LMI gaps and needs of stakeholders
Validate existing information gaps, identify new ones and determine the LMI priorities of stakeholders through consultations conducted jointly with Statistics Canada. The consultations will identify the types and sources of LMI used by these stakeholders, reasons for LMI use, as well as their views regarding the most important LMI gaps to close.
Objective: Availability of LMIWe will work collaboratively to address LMI data gaps in the pan-Canadian ecosystem, with a focus on improving the timelines, localness and granularity of information and insights. |
Initiative
Consultation follow-up
Work with Statistics Canada, our federal, provincial and territorial stakeholders and other partners to chart a path forward to address LMI gaps and priorities as identified and validated through the “LMI gaps and needs of stakeholders” initiative.
Initiative
Updates to ELMLP data
Update dashboards and resources related to the Education and Labour Market Longitudinal Platform (ELMLP) with new employment earnings of post-secondary cohorts and trade certificate holders. Conduct relevant research projects leveraging ELMLP data to provide greater insights on the training and education choices of Canadians.
Initiative
Occupational mobility
Collaborate with McMaster University to better understand the extent to which Canadians are changing jobs, and the nature of those shifts. This will entail examining labour force transitions among broad occupational groups.
Encourage adoption of best practices in the generation, analysis and dissemination of LMI in the pan-Canadian ecosystem
Objective: Best PracticesThere is often confusion with respect to terminology, sources and methodologies used when producing LMI. We aim to provide best practices in generating and disseminating LMI throughout the pan-Canadian ecosystem to address these challenges. |
Initiative
Pan-Canadian LMI ecosystem
Assess how we can enhance and improve the delivery of LMI to key players within the system through a high-level mapping of the pan-Canadian LMI ecosystem. This project will document the key players in the LMI ecosystem and analyze their approaches to generating and delivering LMI within Canada. It will also identify key areas where LMIC can provide additional value.
Initiative
LMI best practices and user guides
Produce a series of user guides for career practitioners and other relevant audiences on the appropriate use of different LMI in a client-facing capacity. This will entail conducting a workshop of stakeholders to identify the different ways and reasons that career practitioners and others engage with LMI when supporting the decisions of Canadians. This will inform the development of a user guide series that is responsive and relevant to the needs of career practitioners and that reflects best practices.
Promote labour market information consistency and coherency
Objective: Consistent and coherent application of LMITo help eliminate some of the confusion around inconsistent LMI terms, we must lead and clarify the language and methods used within the Canadian LMI community. |
Initiative
WorkWords
Expand the LMIC online labour market encyclopedia, WorkWords, that provides definitions of key labour market terms, data, uses and concepts.
Initiative
Emerging labour market concepts
Conduct research and review literature on new labour market concepts such as “gig” work, the future of work, the now of work and other emerging trends to bring consistency and coherency to how key LMI terms are discussed.
Enable access to LMI across the pan-Canadian ecosystem
Objective: Access to dataTo facilitate and streamline access to a comprehensive set of practical and relevant labour market information, LMIC will develop and test an open cloud-based data repository in partnership with the Future Skills Centre. The data will be shared through a variety of interfaces, tools and reports that career service providers, educators, institutional partners, among others, can tailor to best meet the needs of Canadians. |
Initiative
Online LMI data repository
Develop and populate LMIC’s online LMI data repository with information from a variety of public and private sources. Build the right data infrastructure to ensure that various data sources are linked in a complementary manner that maximizes ease of access to the full breadth of information.
Initiative
Data platforms and dashboards
Develop tools and interfaces that ensure stakeholders can successfully access the data repository and support the labour market information decisions of Canadians. Continue, as needed, to respond to inquires and requests from stakeholders and partners to provide recent and relevant data.
Promote and support the use of LMI
Objective: Delivery and use of LMITo ensure that LMI is used appropriately and in the right context, a broad understanding of its purpose must be shared by organizations. To meet this need, LMIC will seek to understand how LMI is used throughout Canada. This will help us to recognize, prioritize and address any remaining knowledge gaps. |
Initiative
Career services ecosystem in Canada
Address gaps in knowledge and understanding of the type of career guidance services available across Canada. Develop insights into the career services ecosystem that will enable LMIC to improve the generation, collection and distribution of meaningful and relevant LMI.
Initiative
Partnerships to enable LMI use
Share our data repository in a way that equips career service providers with the tools and insights needed to help Canadians navigate their career choices. Provide financial and technical resources through a call for proposals that will be evaluated with guidance from our Career Guidance Stakeholder Committee. Selected pilot projects will be tracked for user engagement and success metrics. Results and achievements from these projects will help develop best practices and potential scaling.
Initiative
Webinars and conferences
Participate in virtual conferences and speaking engagements to promote the availability, use and understanding of LMI. Promote conferences and knowledge sharing engagement opportunities to the LMI community using various communication channels.