The large skills gap in Canada’s labour force has only widened during the pandemic, according to a report from the Conference Board of Canada, with experts saying this is a “critical” time when the country must invest to create a more skilled workforce if it wants to stay competitive globally.

Since the start of the pandemic, Canadian businesses have come to rely more on digital tools and technologies. According to a recent report on “Digital Skills for Today and Tomorrow” by the Conference Board of Canada, in partnership with Future Skills Centre. The Conference Board report projects that over the next 10 years, nine out of 10 jobs will require digital skills.

“We definitely have a labour shortage but we also have a skill shortage because the companies’ needs are shifting due to increased automation,” Dr. Tricia Williams, director of research, evaluation, and knowledge mobilization at Future Skills Centre, told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview on Thursday. “So, individuals finding their skills obsolete would need to upskill or invest in new skills.”

According to a report by StatCan, more than half (56.1 per cent) of Canadian businesses in 2021 said that their current workforce was not fully proficient to perform jobs at the required level. A majority of businesses reporting skills gaps were either large firms with more than 100 employees (93 per cent) or midsize with 20 to 99 employees (90 per cent). Three-fifths (60.3 per cent) of businesses said they were facing at least one negative consequence to their activities because of the skills gap in their workforce. While the regional disparities were minor, the distribution across different sectors has been uneven. For example, the accommodation and food services sector showed the highest rate of skills gap out of any other sector, with nearly four-fifths (78 per cent) of businesses struggling to hire.