The Importance of Durable Skills for the Future Economy

There is no denying that in recent years, there has been a growing shift towards skills-based people strategies as organizations seek to prioritize practical abilities and career aspirations over conventional credentials. With industries rapidly evolving and new technologies reshaping the workforce, employers have begun to look for agile, capable talent to meet dynamic business needs rather than candidates who attended the best university. At the same time, those working within talent acquisition and human resources know that becoming skills-based or even skills-centric will take more than a one-off hire here and there. To lead and win, Canada must reframe our understanding of skills—and the programmes that support them. 

What’s Happened to Skills in Canada?

To start, let’s consider that we have been governed by the Employment Equity Act since 1995, a document that clearly states, “No person shall be denied employment opportunities or benefits for reasons unrelated to ability.” Add to that the existence of the Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), a government body formed in 2005 to “improve the standard of living and quality of life for all Canadians” by promoting a highly skilled labour force, and it would appear—on the surface—that hiring has relied on skills for some time. 

Reality, however, has been quite the opposite. For too long, employers have pursued candidates with a certain pedigree, those able to meet hyper-specific criteria, eager to build workplace cultures that reflect unrealistic standards—often to the disadvantage of Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, women and other marginalized groups. All the while, technology has advanced and advanced, changing which skills are in vogue and which are passé. 

Amid the pace of innovation, recognizing that what we’ve tried previously hasn’t prepared Canada for future workforce needs, I believe that traditional skill categories—like “soft” and “hard” skills—have become outdated. Instead, I am leaning into the idea of “durable” and “perishable” skills as a more robust framework for what’s to come. In my mind, perishable skills, such as specific coding languages, may quickly lose relevance, while durable skills—like communication, collaboration, and troubleshooting—will remain critical in even the most fluid job market. 

What’s Changing With Skills Requirements?  

With its progressive policies, emerging industries, and younger, more adaptable workers, Canada is already uniquely positioned to harness the power of durable skills. What’s more, we’re keenly aware of the value of skills, introducing new resources to complement the existing ones described above in an effort to nurture workforce development. One such example comes from a recent investment in the Canada Retraining and Opportunities Initiative, part of ESDC. At a provincial level, Ottawa announced that it would put $30 million into the initiative to “help displaced workers transition into new employment opportunities.” The program currently seeks to create workforce plans within communities, help workers develop new skills through training and work experience, and support employers by filling in-demand jobs. 

In practice, this type of programme might look something like Ottawa’s Labour Force Management Strategies Initiative. Funded through the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, the Labour Force Management Strategies Initiative has brought together the federal and provincial governments to get ahead of a forecasted labour shortage in the agriculture sector through language training, ridesharing programs and more. What isn’t clear, however, is the durability and persistence of the skills we’re promoting—and that’s an opportunity worth exploring. 

Toward Durable Skills

From here, we must prioritize the recognition and development of durable skills, especially among immigrants and recent graduates, ensuring they find fulfilling roles that are not confined by rigid job descriptions. Doing this requires breaking away from traditional “checkbox” approaches to learning and skills training, advocating instead for strategies that align with individual strengths and workforce needs. Using the Canada Retraining and Opportunities Initiative, for instance, would mean taking the idea of community workforce planning beyond the short term to determine which skills will best serve that area’s population—and its employers—in the long term. 

The Environics Institute recently reinforced this idea, detailing an immediate need to broaden our existing approach, with most training centered around workplace health and safety rather than new technologies directly impacting our economy. Artificial intelligence is perhaps the most obvious, having gained incredible momentum over the last two years. But AI isn’t just transforming the way companies work; it’s changing the way humans work, levelling the playing field in terms of access to opportunities to the benefit of millions of workers, including those in smaller, more remote towns. By enabling workers to leverage AI to its full potential through dedicated training that puts humans firmly in control of technology, Canada can reimagine its labour market. 

In order to do this, we need to know which skills will prevail in the face of an AI-powered world. For instance, rather than focus on mastering programming languages for software development, we should shift to prompt engineering. Unlike other technical roles, prompt engineering requires strong verbal and written communication skills along with analytical abilities. So, instead of upskilling a software developer to be a prompt engineer, we might consider them for product design or information security. Though only one example, these differences become increasingly important when we think about skills and the workforce holistically. 

Making Moves to Secure the Future of Skills  

Building programmes that foster upskilling and reskilling is a critical first step in ensuring our workforce is employable. Building programmes that acknowledge where upskilling and reskilling fit into the future of work is what will help Canada stay ahead of competitors in a continuously evolving global economy. We have some of the pieces in place today, but there’s still more we can do. By embracing a forward-thinking mindset, one where we identify durable skills and connect individuals to roles based on what will last, we can elevate our efforts with measurable impact across the workforce.

Going back to where we started, there’s no denying that skills-based people strategies help close workforce gaps. But in a country as large and as diverse as Canada, that isn’t enough anymore. To lead and win, we need to get in front of the skills conversation and create the resources our citizens need to succeed in the days, weeks, months and even decades to come.