"Human Skills" Key to Tackling Workforce Disruption: RBC Report

There's a quiet crisis underway. One that's set to affect 4 million young Canadians entering the job market over the next decade.

That crisis is being fueled by huge advancements in artificial intelligence and automation, which are transforming – and disrupting – the workforce. In fact, around 50 per cent of all Canadian jobs will be disrupted by automation in the next 10 years, a new RBC study has found.

That doesn't mean jobs facing disruption are necessarily going away completely. In fact, the Canadian economy is expected to create 2.4 million new jobs between now and 2021, but the majority of them will require a new approach. RBC says the economy will be built on a workforce that is mobile, constantly learning, training and upgrading to meet changing demands.

Foundational Skills in Action

To compile the new report, titled Humans Wanted – How Canadian youth can thrive in the age of disruption, researchers crossed the country to speak with students, workers, educators and employers. On their travels, they found a number of youth who are already taking action to navigate the new world of work. Take 27-year-old Taharima Habib, for example, just one of the many stories you'll find in the report.

The microbiology graduate, born in Bangladesh and raised in Montreal, originally wanted to be a high school science teacher – but quickly discovered no one was hiring. Habib shifted from HIV research to science tutoring to LGBTQ activism, and now runs a community centre.

"She's using her foundational skills from science — curiosity, perseverance, discovery, analysis — and melding those with the empathy and collaboration she's developing in community work, laying the foundations for a possible career in public policy and politics," the report said.

Those foundational skills are the ones the research has concluded will be key to staying competitive and resilient in the job market – ones that set youth up for a variety of jobs and roles rather than just a single career path. The report dubs them "human skills," and they include things like active listening, speaking, critical thinking, complex problem solving and reading comprehension.

Preparing for a Skills Revolution

"Canada is at a historic cross-roads – we have the largest generation of young people coming into the workforce at the very same time technology is starting to impact most jobs in the country," Dave McKay, President and CEO of RBC, said in a statement introducing the report. "Canada is on the brink of a skills revolution and we have a responsibility to prepare young people for the opportunities and ambiguities of the future."

Researchers found recent graduates who were overqualified for their jobs, unemployed youth who weren't trained for the jobs available and young Canadians overall who felt ill-prepared for the future of work.

"Too many have been trained for jobs that may go away rather than equipped with skills that will be ever more valuable," McKay said.

For more on the coming skills revolution and the future of work, check out the full RBC report.