QUEBEC
The role of the Commission des partenaires du marché du travail (Labour Market Partners Commission) and prioritization of labour market needs
PURPOSE: The mission of the Commission des partenaires du marché du travail (Labour Market Partners Commission) is to oversee the development and optimum use of human capital – human skills, experience and knowledge – by concerted action of labour market players, in a perspective of growing Quebec’s prosperity.
With a view to improving the fit between training and labour market needs, the CPMT, every two years, establishes a prioritization of vocational and technical training to be offered on the basis of labour market needs.
MINISTRY
Commission des partenaires du marché du travail (CPMT - Labour Market Partners Commission), Government of Quebec
DESCRIPTION
Established in 1997, the CPMT is a national concerted action body that brings together the main decision-makers representing the employers, labour, education, community organizations and certain government departments with a social and economic vocation.
The labour market requires special interventions depending on the region, the economic sector and the clientele. To accomplish its actions, the CPMT can count on a network made up of different partners, particularly based on regions, sectors and clientele.
The exercise of prioritizing labour market needs consists of identifying the occupations for which vocational and technical training should be increased. These priorities serve as a Quebec-wide reference regarding labour market needs by supporting the government departments and agencies, including the Ministère de l’Éducation, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche (MEESR - Department of Education, Higher Education and Research), in the decisions intended to improve the training-employment fit.
The model used is based on labour market data, such as the forecasted employment growth rate by industry (economic sector according to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) and the Emploi-Québec employment outlooks by occupation.
It accounts for the economic sector that will see major workforce needs due to retirements. It also integrates construction occupations practised outside the construction industry and health occupations not covered by the prioritization exercise of the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (Department of Health and Social Services). Also note that it does not automatically exclude occupations with a high turnover rate, but the analysis of the causes of this turnover could result in the exclusion of some of these occupations.
RESULTS
The CPMT’s mission makes it possible to:
• favour concerted action to ensure that public policies on employment respond to the fit between the labour market and the clienteles*;
• publish activity reports of results concerning the Workforce Skills Development and Recognition Fund and the Act to promote workforce skills development and recognition.
In 2013–14, the training needs prioritization exercise led to the establishment of a two-part list:
• 14 occupations for which the supply of training should be increased;
• 23 occupations for which increased efforts to promote the occupation or the training program are relevant.
Following the distribution of the 2013–14 prioritization list, 12 applications for authorization to offer programs corresponding to the occupations targeted by Part 1 of the list were submitted to the MEESR.
The new 2015–16 prioritization exercise for vocational and technical training needs based on the labour market’s needs has been in progress since fall 2014 with the consultation of the Conseils régionaux des partenaires du marché du travail (CRPMT - Regional Councils of Labour Market Partners), in collaboration with the regional directorates of Emploi-Québec and the Comités sectoriels de main-d’oeuvre (Sectoral Workforce Committees). The finalization of the exercise is scheduled for June 2015.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Commission des partenariats des marchés du travail