A Labour Market Like No Other

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A Labour Market Like No Other

• Labour shortage
• Decline in low skill/high pay jobs
• Decline of manufacturing/rise of the service
  sector
• Higher skill demands everywhere

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Our Response to the Literacy ChallengeLeadershi
p through Influence
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Where is the need? Adults Level 2

• 25.6 of the population
• Approximately grade 7 - 11 level
• High employment
• Read newspapers, could read to their kids
• Dont self-identify
• But dont have the skills for the new economy

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Adults Level 2 Focus on the Workplace
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Where is the need? Adults level 1

• 16.6 of the population
• Very limited print skills to approximately grade
  6
• More likely to self-identify
• Not as high employment as level 2
• No culture of reading

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Adult Level 1 Focus on the Community
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What do we want to change?

• We envision a Canada where
• the private sector plays a leading role in the
  literacy development of Canadians
• Individuals are provided the opportunities to
  increase their literacy levels and
• governments recognize the economic, social and
  cultural benefits of investing in adult literacy

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How can we help bring about that change?
New Mission

• We are Canadas private-sector voice championing
  adult literacy.

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How can we help bring about that change?

• Scope
• We are the national
• Communicator - our traditional role
• Advocate - a new expertise
• Convenor - a traditional and expanded expertise

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Our New Program Mix
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Private Sector Champions

• We represent the private sector
• Speaking to and on behalf of
• the private sector
• ABC CANADAs constituency

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But none of this works without

• A foundation of research
• Strong input from those who experience literacy
  challenges on the ground literacy field,
  practitioners, workplace literacy program
  managers, tutors, learners, CEOs, labour leaders

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The Timing is Right
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The timing is right

• We will require, from a larger and larger
  percentage of our workforce, the ability to
  engage in relatively complicated analytical and
  cognitive tasks. So its not that were going to
  need more geniuses, but the 50th percentile is
  going to have to be better educated than they are
  now.
• - Malcolm Gladwell, October 1, 2007, quoted
  in the Globe and Mail

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The timing is right

• Raising literacy skills could also create
  thousands of new jobs, lower unemployment and
  significantly raise personal incomeall of which
  could play a big role in combating povertyThe
  private sector must play a role, given how much
  it has to gain from improved outcomes
• - TD Bank Financial Group - September 12, 2007

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By 2010

• We will have
• Developed a core group of business and labour
  leaders
• Become the go to organization for governments
• Increased understanding of workplace literacy
• Positioned the literacy cause
• Created a sense of urgency
• Established ABC CANADA as a model NFP
• Laid a foundation for future success

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2010 and beyond

• How will we use this foundation?
• Influencing attitudes and creating action
• better understanding and awareness of the
  importance of literacy
• new programs in the workplace
• literacy out of the closet normalize learning
• Transformation

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Thank you to all those who helped us develop our
plan for the future. We couldnt do it without
you.