Growing Health(y) Workers: Reversing the Education-Jobs Optic

Abstract

Policymakers have promoted high-school work-experience programs as one way of addressing areas of labour shortage. For example, the Ministry of Health and Wellness in Alberta funds an internship program designed to encourage high-school students to consider careers in health care. This paper shifts from the supply-side focus that is inherent in policy to address questions that warrant greater attention by educators and other partners involved in school-to-work transition programs. For example, what evidence is there for shortages of skilled labour in different sectors? How are different groups responding to changes in education/ training and work? And what kind of working conditions are newly credentialed graduates likely to encounter when they enter the labour force? Our analysis suggests that factors affecting the supply of skilled labour go far beyond a lack of interest on the part of youth. For example, work in health services has been impacted by government restructuring and increasing credential requirements. Negotiations between employers, professional associations, and different groups of employees over terms and conditions of work are occurring and the quality of work experienced by different groups of workers varies. Given this context, we argue that career education programs should have broader goals that include allowing young people to engage in learning about work, not just learning for work.