The State of Knowledge on the Role and Impact of Labour Market Information: A Survey of the International Evidence

This report provides a critical examination of the international literature on the role and impact of labour market information (LMI). The purpose of this exercise is to assess the current state of knowledge on the role and impact of LMI and to identify gaps in our knowledge. The report finds that we know very little about the impact of LMI per se on labour market outcomes. What knowledge we do possess must be inferred from evaluations of labour market programs or technologies that are related to LMI, such as job-search assistance programs, career counseling, and internet-based LMI. The literature on each of these topics reveals some beneficial impacts on labour market outcomes, but the precise role of LMI in driving these relationships is never specified.labour market, international, labour market information, decision-making, labour market outcomes

Human Capital and Productivity in British Columbia

This report provides an assessment of human capital development in British Columbia. The province's performance is above average according to the majority of the indicators we analyze, relative to both the rest of Canada and other OECD countries. However, this does not mean that there is no room for improvement. We identify four areas in which improvements would be likely to contribute to productivity growth in British Columbia: the underutilization of the skills of recent immigrants; the poor educational outcomes of Aboriginal people; the below-average production of advanced human capital through graduate training; and the problem of high school non-completion. We provide policy recommendations pertaining to each of these four challenges.productivity, human capital, immigration, education, aboriginal education gap

The State of Private Sector Electronic Labour Exchange Services in Canada

This report has two aims. The first is to provide a descriptive overview of the services offered by private sector electronic labour exchanges (ELEs) in Canada. The second is to assess those services in terms of their likely effects on labour market matching, their accessibility, and the degree to which they satisfy the needs of all Canadian jobseekers and employers. The report finds that there is a robust private sector in ELE services in Canada. The private sector provides a broader range of services than the main public sector alternative, Job Bank. However, there are key areas in which the private sector does not deliver adequate services. The public sector, through Job bank, can take the lead in providing specialized job-search services tailored toward groups with unique labour market needs.labour market matching, electronic labour exchange services, private sector, public sector

Aggregate Measures of Income and Output in Canada and the United States: Implications for Productivity and Living Standards

The objectives of this article are to clarify definitions and to produce estimates of the eight aggregate measures of income and product (gross domestic product, gross domestic income, gross national product, gross national income, net domestic product, net domestic income, net national product and net national income) for Canada and the United States over the 1980-2008 period. The article also discusses the implications of the eight measures for productivity and living standards analysis. It concludes that GDP and NDP are the most appropriate measures of output for productivity analysis, while NNI is the most appropriate measure of income for the analysis of living standards because it captures the impact on real income of terms of trade changes, net income received from abroad, and the sustainability of the capital stock.gross domestic product, gross domestic income, gross national product, gross national income, net domestic product, net domestic income,net national product, net national income, productivity, living standards

State of the Evidence on Health as a Determinant of Productivity

Canada's labour productivity performance has been abysmal since 2000, both relative to our historical experience and to that in the United States. In theory, a deterioration of the health status of Canadian workers could explain slower productivity growth. However, the evidence does not support this hypothesis. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that illness and disability impose a massive indirect economic burden on the Canadian economy because many persons of working age are unable to work. Canada's potential level of "social productivity" is lower because of this situation. This is an output shortfall issue, not a conventional productivity issue, and it is important not to confuse the two.labour productivity, health status, absenteeism, presenteeism, Canada

Graph Laplacians and Stabilization of Vehicle Formations

Control of vehicle formations has emerged as a topic of significant interest to the controls community. In this paper, we merge tools from graph theory and control theory to derive stability criteria for formation stabilization. The interconnection between vehicles (i.e., which vehicles are sensed by other vehicles) is modeled as a graph, and the eigenvalues of the Laplacian matrix of the graph are used in stating a Nyquist-like stability criterion for vehicle formations. The location of the Laplacian eigenvalues can be correlated to the graph structure, and therefore used to identify desirable and undesirable formation interconnection topologies