Parisa Mahboubi – High Education, Lower Literacy: What to Do?
From: Parisa Mahboubi To: Canada’s ministers of education and skills development Date: November 20, 2017 Re: High Education, Lower Literacy: What to Do? Canada’s workforce has experienced a troubling slide in literacy and numeracy skills, despite higher levels of education and improvements in learning technology. In my report last week I compared results of international surveys from 2003 and […] What Is to Blame for the Widening Racial Earnings Gap? – Globe and Mail Op-Ed
Canada’s labour force has become more diverse, but visible minorities as a whole still struggle to achieve parity in the labour market. Even accounting for differences in individuals’ characteristics, the data show that the slow process of integration for immigrants merits special attention.
More than one-fifth of Canadians are visible minorities – non-Indigenous and “non-Caucasian” in race or non-white in colour – according to the 2016 Census. Visible minorities earned only 81.2 per cent of what non-visible minorities earned in 2015 – a gap that has widened by 2.6 percentage points since 2000.
Education, work experience and occupation play important roles in earning outcomes, but they are not able to fully…
Talkin’ ‘Bout My Generation: More Educated, But Less Skilled Canadians
Canada’s workforce has experienced a troubling slide in literacy and numeracy skills, despite higher levels of education and improvements in learning technology, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Talkin’ ‘Bout My Generation: More Educated, But Less Skilled Canadians,” author Parisa Mahboubi compares results of international surveys from 2003 and 2012 […] Off balance: Canada, the U.S. and labour mobility – Globe and Mail Op-Ed
As it contemplates the possibility of a modernized NAFTA, Canada should seek to improve labour mobility throughout North America to address skill shortages in Canada.
The narrative around the Trump regime focuses on Canada’s increased advantage in attracting skilled international workers. But those same tougher U.S. immigration policies bring a threat: American employers may try to hire more Canadians who can easily cross the border to meet the demand for high skills.
As a result of rapid technological changes, employers’ needs for high-skilled workers grow every year. Since the North American free-trade agreement came into force more than 20 years ago, new occupations have been created. The Canadian market faces a…
Finnie, Mueller, Sweetman – Debunking the Barista Fallacy: A New Way of Measuring Earnings of University Graduates
From: Ross Finnie, Richard E. Mueller, and Arthur Sweetman To: Concerned Canadians Date: October 27, 2017 Re: Debunking the Barista Fallacy: A New Way of Measuring Earnings of University Graduates An extraordinary amount of ink has been spilled in Canada over the value of university degrees. That value is almost always defined in economic terms […] Busby And Mahboubi – Let’s Close The Skills Gaps Between Indigenous People And Non-indigenous Canadians
To: Provincial ministers of education; provincial ministers of postsecondary education From: Colin Busby and Parisa Mahboubi Date: September 26, 2017 RE: Let’s Close the Skills Gaps between Indigenous People and Non-Indigenous Canadians Skills development among Indigenous people is central to reducing the high rates of labour market withdrawal and unemployment, as well as the relatively […] Thinking about Minimum Wage Increases in Alberta: Theoretically, Empirically, and Regionally
After weighing the lessons of economic theory and real-world experience, a leading Alberta economist, Joseph Marchand, concludes that Alberta’s move to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2018 could lead to the loss of roughly 25,000 jobs. In a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute, Thinking about Minimum Wage Increases in […] Closing the Divide: Progress and Challenges in Adult Skills Development among Indigenous Peoples
Closing the skills gap between working-age Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians is essential for the economic success of Canada’s Indigenous peoples, according to a report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Closing the Divide: Progress and Challenges in Adult Skills Development among Indigenous Peoples,” authors Parisa Mahboubi and Colin Busby find both progress and challenges in […] When will Ontario break the cycle that is failing its math students?: Globe and Mail Op-Ed
Ontario’s Education Quality and Accountability Office’s 2016/2017 results released this week show that for the second year in a row, only 50 per cent of Grade 6 students met the provincial math standard, compared with 61 per cent ten years ago. It is important to reverse this trend since early achievement in math is a strong predictor of later success in math and future career options.
Another concerning point to emerge from the EQAO tests is that the percentage of students who met the math standard in Grade 3 but did not do so in Grade 6 has increased. This suggests that students are not being well-prepared in lower grades to handle more difficult math concepts. Mathematics is extremely cumulative in nature. A student cannot…
John Richards – A Back to School Wake-up Call
From: John Richards To: Concerned Canadians Date: August 31, 2017 Re: A Back to School Wake-up Call In an industrial age, whether a country educates its children well is perhaps the most important determinant of whether the next generation will be prosperous or poor, whether income inequality will be high or low. Good schools are […] Red Flags for Educators: Lessons for Canada in the PISA Results
As students prepare for return to school, educators and parents in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the four Atlantic provinces should be concerned about their student test scores, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In Red Flags for Educators: Lessons for Canada in the PISA Results, author John Richards notes that, for reading, […] Finnie, Mueller, and Sweetman – The Cultural Determinants of Access to Higher Education
From: Ross Finnie, Richard E. Mueller, and Arthur Sweetman To: Provincial Ministers of Education and Immigration; Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada Date: August 25, 2017 Re: The Cultural Determinants of Access to Higher Education A widely held belief in Canada is that expanded access to post-secondary education is integral to improving national productivity. […]