HRSDC-IC-SSHRC Skills Research Initiative

Working Paper Series

Rapporteurs' Reports from the Skills Research Initiative Workshops
by Charles M. Beach, Peter Kuhn and W. Craig Riddell.

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Preface

The Skills Research Initiative (SRI) was a multi-year initiative undertaken by Industry Canada (IC) and Human Resources and Social Development Canada, in partnership with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Launched in 2003, the SRI was designed to support the Innovation Strategy of the Federal Government and to foster policy-relevant research on skills-related issues. The research partners identified four skills policy-research themes – A: Labour market and skills implications of population aging in Canada; B: Employer-supported training; C: Adjustments in markets for skilled workers; and D: International mobility of highly skilled workers.

The SRI funded policy-relevant research on the skills related issues identified in the four themes above. It sought to promote and encourage dialogue between researchers, policymakers and practitioners through knowledge-transfer activities such as workshops and publications. The partners conducted three policy workshops to present the policy implications of the findings of the studies conducted under the research program. The three workshops were organized around the four research themes. Themes B and C were combined into a one-and-half-day workshop. The workshops brought together international and national researchers, senior policy makers, and stakeholder representatives to discuss research findings and their policy implications.

An academic expert was selected as a rapporteur for the discussion at each workshop. Following the workshop, each rapporteur prepared a written report that reviewed the key messages from the workshop discussion and provided comments and summary of the workshop. This working paper is a compendium of the three rapporteurs’ reports. The workshop agendas are provided in the appendix. In addition to the rapporteurs’ reports, three post-workshop synthesis papers presenting the research findings and their policy implications will be published in early 2007, as well as an overview paper that will review the principal research findings and their policy implications.