Economic Cost of Skills Vacancies
Skills Are Valuable and in Demand
Français • Updated: March 2, 2022
What are skills vacancies?
When an employer wants to fill a vacant job, they are really looking for a set of skills to help them complete specific tasks. Until that employer can recruit a new employee, they don’t have access to the skills they need. So job vacancies can actually be thought of as skill-set vacancies: an unmet need for particular skills.
Right now in Canada, skills vacancies represent $25 billion in unrealized economic value, an increase from $15 billion in 2015. Rising job vacancy numbers, higher wages, and changes in the types of available jobs have all contributed to this increase.
Our research examines skill deficiencies in the workforce, what those skills are worth, and how much economic value is being lost, to help illuminate the needs and requirements for Canadian labour, education, and immigration policy-makers.
Lost Opportunities: Measuring the Unrealized Value of Skill Vacancies in Canada
March 2, 2022
Such sought-after skills are valuable. Salaries or wages reflect, in part, how valuable a certain skill set is to an organization. So, we can define the value of skill vacancies as the unrealized monetary value when a vacancy for particular skills goes unfilled.
Issue briefing • 11-min read
Key Findings
Skills are Valuable
Just 18 individual skills account for 65 per cent of the variation in wages across occupations. This demonstrates that skills are valuable and that wages and salaries are at least partly based on the skill set or specific skills the job requires.
Six Most Valued Skills Vacancies
Skills come in regular groupings, commonly known as skill sets. Our skills gap analysis revealed the six most valued skills vacancies: active listening, critical thinking, reading comprehension, speaking, monitoring, and coordination.
Four Main Skill Sets
Skill sets can be classified into four main groups: basic daily, social and emotional, resource management, and task and technical skills.
Skills Investments
We can determine the value of skills and skill groups using the average wages and job vacancies for those occupations. This helps policy-makers and educators prioritize skills investments.
Lack of Skills Equals Lost Economic Value
A lack of skills in the labour pool leads to unfilled jobs and lost economic value.
Aggregate Value of Skills Vacancies, by Skill Group
(value of skill group vacancies in 2020, $ billions)
Sources: The Conference Board of Canada; O*NET; Statistics Canada.
We can estimate the value of these skill group vacancies, just as we can with individual skills, and use these values to help policy-makers and educators prioritize and direct investments to assist them in closing the skills gap.
Skills vacancies are imposing an increasing burden on the overall Canadian economy.
Recent Release
Lost Opportunities: Measuring the Unrealized Value of Skill Vacancies in Canada
Canadian Economics March 2, 2022
Such sought-after skills are valuable. Salaries or wages reflect, in part, how valuable a certain skill set is to an organization. So, we can define the value of skill vacancies as the unrealized monetary value when a vacancy for particular skills goes unfilled.
Issue briefing • 11-min read
Related Research
A Path Forward: Job Transitions in Canada
Education & Skills March 16, 2021
Workers considering a career change need to better understand how to capitalize on their current skills, education, abilities, experience, and knowledge. Similarly, human resource professionals, educational institutions, and labour market policy-makers need a better sense of what skills, education, abilities, experience, and knowledge characteristics make someone more employable, today and in the future.
Impact paper • 25-min read
Modelling Job Transitions in Canada
Education & Skills March 16, 2021
Employment in Canada is going to look different in the future. The types of education, abilities, skills, and experiences that employers seek are evolving amid a confluence of forces reshaping the nature of work around the world. Disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence and robotics, unmanned vehicles, and the Internet of Things, the growing share of knowledge-based services, and the rise of technology-enabled platforms will reshape careers.
Primer • 20-min read
About This Study
The Conference Board of Canada, on behalf of the Future Skills Centre, is leading a study that converts standard Canadian job vacancies data into skills vacancies.
