A report written by fomer Seneca College president Rick Miner states that more than 700,000 people in Ontario will be unemployable by 2021 due to inadequate skills and education.
Miner spoke to Rotary Club members in Sudbury about his report April 8. His report, People Without Jobs, Jobs Without People, was released in February.
Miner, now an independent consultant, said that the 700,000 unemployable people would be in addition to the five per cent of people who are traditionally unemployed, bringing the total to more than 1.1 million unemployed.
“The unemployment crisis in Ontario will be far more severe than the current recession.”
Using data from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Finance, Statistics Canada, and a recent study by the Obama administration in the U.S., Dr. Miner said it can be conservatively estimated that at least 75 per cent of workers in Ontario will need postsecondary education and/or training by 2021 if they are to be employable in Ontario’s new innovation economy.
However, if current trends continue, only about 64 per cent of the workforce in Ontario is actually expected to have acquired postsecondary credentials by that point. The shortfall will mean a lot more jobs without people.
Meanwhile, due to the retirement of the baby boomers and an under-qualified workforce, there will be about 1.3 million job openings throughout the economy that will go unfilled.
“We have to accept that the demographic changes that are coming cannot be wished away,” Dr. Miner said, in a press release. “The impact will be real and its implications are frightening.”
Miner said Ontario must begin taking action now to address this challenge. A strategy must be implemented to increase the level of education and training (college, university, apprenticeship, industry, professional) in the province, he said.
