C. Provincial and Local Labour Market Information

The informed work seeker needs to know how economic conditions vary from province to province and which qualifications and certificates are accepted from one province to the next. So it is important that they have access to provincial and regional information.

Canadian Occupational Projection
System (COPS)/Job Futures

Almost all provinces produce their own version of Job Futures. The purpose of the provincial Job Futures publications is to apply the analytical tools and data developed through COPS to occupational labour market trends specific to a province. While the content varies among provincial jurisdictions, most LMI discussed so far in this book is included in provincial products:

• work duties;
• educational background and skills required;
• number of people employed;
• average employment growth rates;
• gender composition;
• age composition;
• full-time, part-time and self-employment rates;
• main industries of employment;
• work prospects;
• trends for the future;
• rates of unemployment;
• related occupations; and
• earnings.

In using the COPS data, practitioners should remember that the numbers are projections and should be interpreted with caution since no one can say with certainty what the future has in store. Projections are not predictions of what will necessarily happen. Rather, they represent one possible path for occupational requirements.

Economic Services Branches

The regional Economic Services Branches (ESBs) of HRDC conduct monitoring and analysis of labour force characteristics, occupational demand and supply conditions, and other labour market issues in their respective regions (i.e., provinces and territories). Because of regional differences, the focus of ESB activities vary and results in distinctive regional data and information products. For example, fishing industry data in Newfoundland will be entirely different from fishing industry data in Saskatchewan.

Other ESB Publications

In addition to collaborating with their provincial counterparts in the development of COPS occupational forecasts, individual ESBs also produce other information products. For example, B.C./Yukon produces the Economic Review; Ontario Region produces Ontario Labour Market, and Manitoba Region publishes High Demand Occupations jointly with Manitoba Education and Training, Labour Market Support Services.

Provincial Ministries

It is a good idea to check with provincial and territorial ministries for LMI. Provincial and territorial statistics agencies are good sources of regionally specific LMI. For example, many provincial ministries of advanced education and training are now performing their own surveys of college graduates and preparing follow-up reports. In British Columbia, the Ministry of Advanced Education and Labour Market Development produces the B.C. College and Institute Student Outcomes Report.

It is usually possible to access a directory of employers from provincial economic department Web sites.

Libraries

In the public library system, government LMI used to be catalogued under "government publications" which often made it difficult to locate. Now government LMI is included in the more easily recognizable subject headings:

• employment forecasting - Canada (or region/province); and
• labour market - Canada (or region/province).

All clients and students should be encouraged to acquaint themselves with the business section of the local library. It can be intimidating to some people, especially anyone who has been out of school for any length of time, but the directories and annual reports available are invaluable sources of LMI.

Even though newspapers are available at libraries, clients and students should be encouraged to subscribe to at least one daily newspaper and make reading it (especially the business section) a lifelong habit.

Material published by Statistics Canada is also available on the Internet http://www.statcan.ca and at Statistics Canada regional resource centres. (Assistance is available toll-free for users who reside outside the local dialling area). Although much Statistics Canada material is too

specialized to subscribe to on a regular basis, many quarterly publications, such as Perspectives on Labour and Income, Social Trends or Educational Quarterly, often have articles of interest. Clients and students undertaking an in-depth investigation should consider Statistics Canada material in their search.