Giving people better opportunities to participate in the labour market is a key policy objective in all OECD and EU countries. Better employment increases disposable income, strengthens economic growth and improves well-being. Well-tailored labour market and social protection policies are a key factor in the creation of high-quality jobs and increasing the number of people looking for work. Policies need to address pressing structural challenges, such as rapid population ageing and evolving skill needs, including those needed for the green transition. They should also foster social inclusion and mobilise all of society.
The COVID‑19 pandemic has increased the need for policies to support employment and inclusive labour markets. Even before the crisis, employment rates differed markedly across population groups. High unemployment, weak labour market attachment of some population groups and unstable or poor-quality employment reflect a range of barriers to working or moving up the jobs ladder. The economic repercussions of the pandemic risk entrenching these barriers further. It will be a major challenge for policy makers in the coming years to lift these labour market obstacles, support labour relocation and make labour market participation accessible for all.
Another challenge that policy makers face is the effective and efficient use of public funds. Knowing what policies work is critical and this requires collecting relevant data, careful planning of impact evaluations and use of their results to guide policy making. Advances in data collection and storage and modern computer power means that countries now have a greater ability than ever before to conduct evaluations of their policies using high-quality administrative data and survey data. Expertise is needed to take these data and conduct robust and credible policy evaluation. Communication of their results is vital to inform policy makers.
The OECD Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee is carrying out a set of reviews of labour market and social protection policies to encourage greater labour market participation and better employment among all population groups with a special focus on the most disadvantaged who face the greatest barriers to finding quality jobs. This includes a series of country studies, Connecting People with Jobs, which provide an assessment of how well active labour market policies (ALMPs) help all groups to move into productive and rewarding jobs, and a number of policy recommendations that could improve the situation. A number of reports in this series conduct impact evaluations of selected ALMPs and assess the systems countries have in place for evidence‑informed policy making.
This report on Canada is the ninth country study published in this series. It focuses on how Canada leverages its administrative data to evaluate its ALMPs by examining how these evaluations are conducted, what methodologies are used, the quality assurance process and how results are communicated within the policy making process. This report, which is funded by Employment and Social Development Canada, forms part of a joint project by the OECD and the European Commission which aims to raise the quality of data collected on the outcomes and effectiveness of labour market programmes, so that countries can better evaluate and design them to benefit their citizens.