Mr. Chairman, thank you to you and the committee for identifying this important issue for attention.
By way of introduction, I'll mention that the Pearson Centre is a progressive think tank that addresses a range of economic and social issues, the future of work being one of our top three priorities this year.
Our approach to this subject of precarious employment is to look at the broader issue of what I would consider the future of work, although it is fair to say that precarious employment runs through most of the sub-issues that we have identified. Whether it's rapid technological change, the layoffs at GM and Fiat Chrysler or the downturn of the natural resource sector in Alberta and Saskatchewan, the rapidly evolving economy and the changing nature of work is an important challenge facing Canadians, and indeed it is a challenge facing most of the world today.
Precariousness is growing. It's a fact of life for most young people. There's stress on individuals, for sure, but I would also remind you that there's also a stress on the economy. As you have more people in precarious work, they have less ability to buy and participate in the economy, and that has an effect considerably beyond individuals.
Precariousness is at the core of a lot of the issues. I'll just outline some of them. I'll mention that the solutions lie through the work of a lot of partners, including the private sector, labour, governments, the education and training system, families and individuals. The issues we are identifying in our future work project, which is a year-long project are as follows:
Number one is training for technological advancement. That's looking at the skills for tomorrow.
Number two is the effects of AI, artificial intelligence, on the workplace and on jobs.
Number three is identifying new and future sectors and jobs.
Number four is strengthening manufacturing and other existing sectors.
Number five is employment uncertainty and the steady reduction in full-time jobs.
Number six is the growth of the gig economy.
Number seven is the role of start-ups and self-employment.
Number eight is the need for entrepreneurship training for all.
Number nine is outsourcing, offshoring and global production.
Number 10 is the role of the formal education and training system and lifelong learning.
Number 11 is eliminating barriers, advancing equality and inclusive workforces.
Number 12 is creating opportunity for under-represented groups.
Number 13 is advancement for indigenous peoples.
Number 14 is recognizing international credentials.
Number 15 is global education.
Our project is about having discussions in key regions of the country with key partners and developing a series of reports on each of these subjects. Rather than doing more research, we really want to focus on a small number of realistic and bold recommendations for the future.
With regard to precarious employment, I want to identify a few issues for you to consider on what I might call the continuum of precariousness. There are three points I want to mention here. One is that some sectors have been and will always be more precarious than others. Two, some sectors are becoming increasingly precarious as skills change and as part of the work that is performed is either automated or outsourced. Three, I want you to keep in mind that the workers with lower levels of education and training will be more precarious. The estimates are that, for the economy of tomorrow, 60% to 70% of the workforce will require a post-secondary education. That leaves another 30% to 40% of the workforce who will not have post-secondary education and training, and they will be even more precarious than the others.
I want to leave you with two recommendations for consideration. One is to give consideration to this idea of the continuum of precariousness and how it will change over time. Number two is to support the idea of entrepreneurship training for all in high school and post-secondary education, not just for business students, as almost all workers today and certainly in the future will be self-employed for short and long periods during their career.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.