Horizon Europe supports TMU research into the future risk of skills obsolescence
Researchers at the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Migration and Integration program at Toronto Metropolitan University received funding to participate in a large-scale, €3 million project, that addresses the rising concern that the skills of new workers will not match the demands of the changing labour market.
Link4Skills is a three-year research project that brings together researchers from 14 institutions located on four different continents. The project is led by Izabela Grabowska at Kozminski University in Warsaw, Poland, and Anna Triandafyllidou, CERC Migration Chair, leads the TMU research team alongside Stein Monteiro, Senior Research Associate, CERC Migration.
“We are delighted to be a partner in Link4Skills, which is now our third Horizon Europe research project in the last two years,” said Anna. “Our success in joining international programs is testament to the unique contributions that Toronto Metropolitan University is making to research on migration processes and policies.”
Many forces are re-shaping the needs of the labour market – from technology and the environment to demographic change and globalization. Countries the world over are asking how well segments of their populations will be able to evolve to meet the changing needs of the labour market. Furthermore, do arriving immigrants have the skills needed to participate in the labour market and can they adapt to its changing needs to avoid job loss? Finally, are migrants' skills recognized in a humane and fair way, and do current systems of skills flow provide mutual benefits to sending and receiving countries?
“Addressing the challenge of skills shortages in critical sectors is a strategic priority for Canada, involving migration management as well as labour market and education policy considerations,” added Anna. “Working in partnership with European, Asian and African research teams, we will cast light on the transnational flows of people and skills across borders.”
Link4Skills aims to address two complex challenges: rising skills shortages that occur in critical sectors, such as health care, construction and IT, and underemployment resulting from when segments of a population are not recognized for their skill levels. An important outcome of the Link4Skills project will be the creation of an AI-assisted skills navigator. The tool will be co-created by stakeholders in both destination and origin countries, and it will assist policy leaders in assessing global skills supply and demand to better address skills shortages and facilitate more accurate recognition of migrant skills.