JobFutures.ca - Glossary of Terms

Glossary of Terms

Accreditation: process that an agency or an association uses to grant public recognition to a training institution, program of study, individual or service that meets pre-set standards.
Attrition: jobs that are vacated due to retirement or death of the workers.
Average Annual Rate: in Job Futures, this phrase describes the growth in employment or the number of graduates, averaged over a five- or ten-year period, e.g., from 1990 to 1995 the number of graduates increased by 10%, or at an average annual rate of 2% per year. The average annual rate reports the growth as being evenly distributed over each year. This will smooth a slightly irregular yearly growth pattern.
Bachelor's Degree: undergraduate degree of university education which may take from three to five years to complete. In Job Futures, the reference to Bachelor's degree or level includes undergraduate diploma or certificate programs which may take from one to two years to complete.
COPS: see Canadian Occupational Projection System
Canadian Occupational Projection System (COPS): a family of economic models used to forecast current or future labour market conditions on an industrial and occupational basis. The system takes into account both the supply of, and the demand for, workers by industry and occupation.
Career: used to describe the sequence of occupations, jobs or positions held in the lifetime of a person.
Census (e.g.1996, 2001): a survey of all Canadians conducted every five years across Canada by Statistics Canada. Used to determine population characteristics such as number of people, ages, education level attained, employment, unemployment, occupations, earnings, etc.
Certification: the issuance of a formal document that certifies or declares that the holder possesses a set of skills, knowledge and abilities, usually received after completion of education/training/experience in the related areas.
College/CEGEP: post-secondary institution offering certificate and diploma programs. Courses are usually one to three years in length.
Contracting-out: when an organization hires someone from outside their organization to perform a pre-defined task, for an agreed upon fee, in a set period of time. Synonymous with outsourcing.
Costs/Benefits of Education: costs include tuition, books and foregone earnings.
benefits include the extra earnings that individuals would make by continuing their education as opposed to entering the labour market immediately upon graduation.
Current Conditions: used to describe the current chances of finding employment for each occupation or program of study in Job Futures.
see Occupational Group Q&A's and Program of Study Q&A's.
Cyclical: fluctuations in economic activity characterized by periods of economic boom and downturn.
Data: numerical information which captures historical facts, used for analysis to describe and characterize why events have occurred.
Demand: in the context of Job Futures, this term represents the number of workers that employers need to produce a given quantity of goods or services.
Earnings: income that workers receive in the form of wages, salaries and net self-employed earnings. Excludes other forms of compensation such as retirement benefits, stock options or expense accounts.
see Earnings (Full-time); (Full-year); (Part-time); (Part-year); (Average Annual); and (Average Hourly).
Earnings (Average Annual): income that workers receive yearly in the form of wages, salaries and net self-employed earnings from working 30 hours or more per week in an occupation for the entire year.
Earnings (Average Hourly): income per hour of work that workers in a given occupation or occupational group receive in the form of wages or salaries.
Earnings (Full-time): income that workers receive in the form of wages, salaries and net self-employed earnings from working 30 hours or more per week in their main job.
Earnings (Full-year): income that workers receive in the form of wages, salaries and net self-employed earnings from working either full time, part time, or both for the entire year.
Earnings (Part-time): income that workers receive in the form of wages, salaries and net self-employed earnings from working less than 30 hours per week in their main job.
Earnings (Part-year): income that workers receive in the form of wages, salaries and net self-employed earnings from working either full time, part time, or both for only part of the year.
Economic Conditions: indicators of the state of the Canadian economy, in particular those relevant to the labour market.
Education Level - Community College/CEGEP: Community college includes graduates of career programs, hospitals and schools of nursing, collèges d'enseignement général et professionnel (CEGEPs) and teachers' colleges, but excludes university transfer program graduates.
Education Level - Master's, University: Master's, university includes master's degrees and graduate diplomas and certificates.
Education Level - Trade/Vocational: Trade/vocational includes pre-employment or pre-apprenticeship and skill upgrading courses lasting three months or more, but does not include block release apprenticeship training, basic training for skill development, language training and job readiness training.
Education Level - Undergraduate, University: Undergraduate, university includes bachelor's degrees, first professional degrees, and undergraduate diplomas and certificates.
Employed: individuals who are working full time, part time, or for themselves.
see Employed (Full-time); (Full-year); (Part-time); (Part-year); and Self-employed.
Employed (Full-time): individuals who work 30 hours or more per week in their main job.
Employed (Full-year): individuals who have a job, either full time, part time, or both, for the entire year.
Employed (Part-time): individuals who work less than 30 hours per week in their main job.
Employed (Part-year): individuals who have a job, either full time, part time, or both, for only part of the year.
Employment Requirements: the number of workers required by a specific industry to provide a certain quantity of goods or services. Synonymous with "demand."
Experience: the knowledge and skills acquired through the performance of a set of activities.
Fair rating: rating for current and future outlooks in Job Futures.
"Fair" labour market outlooks are neither "Good" nor "Limited". Jobs are more difficult to find; the probability of unemployment is higher; and wages and salaries are lower than in comparable occupational groups which are rated "Good." On the other hand, jobs are easier to find; unemployment is less likely; and wages and salaries are higher than in comparable industrial or occupational groups which are rated "Limited."
see Occupational Group Q&A's and Program of Study Q&A's.
Forecast: in a Job Futures context, this term is used interchangeably with projections.
see Projections.
Forecast Period: for the purposes of Job Futures, the forecast period/horizon is five years into the future.
Forecast Tool: in the context of Job Futures, this term includes computer models, quantitative and qualitative information, expert knowledge, and a broad consultation network.
Foregone Earnings: in Job Futures, potential earnings individuals give up when they continue their education instead of entering the work force immediately after graduating from high school.
Future Outlook: an estimation of the chances of finding work in the future for each occupation or program of study in Job Futures, based on past and current labour market conditions, and expert analysis of potential future trends for each occupation.
Good rating: rating for current and future outlooks in Job Futures.
"Good" labour market outlooks usually mean that finding stable work is relatively easy and working conditions are attractive or improving.
see Occupational Group Q&A's and Program of Study Q&A's.
Goods Sector: sector of the economy which includes industries involved in the transformation or processing of material or physical objects.
Industry: a group of establishments who produce a common set of goods or services. For example, the retail trade industry includes all establishments who buy goods and resell them to the general public.
see Sector
Industry Association: an organization of companies that represents the industry and acts as a common spokesperson for the membership.
Infrastructure: in Job Futures, used to describe the basic structural foundations of a society, i.e. roads, bridges, sewers, etc.
Job: a paid position that requires specific knowledge, skills, experience or training that allows a person to perform a variety of required tasks in an organization.
Knowledge-based Economy: an economy based on the development of information and dominated by specialized, sophisticated industries, such as computers, pharmaceuticals and consulting services.
LFS: see Labour Force Survey
LMI: see Labour Market Information
Labour Force: represents the population 15 years of age and older across Canada that is employed or unemployed, but actively looking for work.
Labour Force Survey (LFS): a monthly survey conducted across the 10 provinces in Canada by Statistics Canada of approximately 48,800 households to determine whether people above 14 years of age are working, not working, actively looking for work or no longer actively looking for work, i.e., not in the labour force.
Labour Market: the forum where buyers of labour, i.e., employers, and sellers of labour, i.e., employees, meet to satisfy job requirements within the Canadian economy or marketplace.
Labour Market Conditions: labour market conditions in a Job Futures context are defined as "Good," "Fair" or "Limited".
"Good" labour market conditions usually mean that finding stable work is relatively easy and working conditions are attractive or improving.
"Fair" labour market conditions are neither "Good" nor "Limited." Jobs are more difficult to find; the probability of unemployment is higher; and wages and salaries are lower than in comparable occupational groups, which are rated "Good." On the other hand, jobs are easier to find; unemployment is less likely; and wages and salaries are higher than in comparable industrial or occupational groups, which are, rated "Limited".
"Limited" labour market conditions mean that new entrants and re-entrants will have difficulty finding stable work, or that working conditions are not attractive or are deteriorating relative to those in other industries or occupations. For new entrants, such as school-leavers and immigrants, limited labour market conditions mean a low probability of finding permanent work and, if they find a job, relatively low pay. For employed workers, these relatively weak conditions will often mean a high probability of loss of work, a high probability of experiencing unemployment spells, and lower wages and salaries.
Labour Market Information (LMI): quantitative and qualitative information on employment, wages, standards, qualifications, job openings, working conditions and other factors related to the labour market.
Labour Market Outcomes: in Job Futures, refers to the employment situation of individuals in any given occupation evaluated by factors such as earnings, access to jobs, mobility, and relative unemployment rates.
Level of Study: refers to the level of education, e.g., trade/vocational, college/CEGEP, and university.
Limited rating: rating for current and future outlooks in Job Futures.
"Limited" labour market outlooks mean that new entrants and re-entrants will have difficulty finding stable work, or that working conditions are not attractive or are deteriorating relative to those in other industries or occupations. For new entrants, such as school-leavers and immigrants, limited labour market outlooks mean a low probability of finding permanent work and, if they find a job, relatively low pay. For employed workers, these relatively weak conditions will often mean a high probability of loss of work, a high probability of experiencing unemployment spells, and lower wages and salaries.
see Occupational Group Q&A's and Program of Study Q&A's.
Master's Degree: post-graduate level of education attained after the successful completion of a Bachelor's degree at the university level. May take from one to two years to complete, depending on undergraduate qualifications and the Master's degree sought.
Median: the middle value of a series of values arranged in order of size.
Mobility: see Occupational Mobility
NGS: see National Graduate Survey
NOC: see National Occupational Classification
National Graduate Survey (NGS): frequent survey of post-secondary school graduates conducted by Statistics Canada in which certain questions are asked of graduates two and five years after graduation that link education and training with current labour market status.
National Occupational Classification (NOC): classifies all occupations in Canada. This system of coding is the basis for the organization of occupations in Job Futures.
Net Benefits: in the context of Job Futures, it refers to the positive difference between the total benefits and total costs relative to career or educational choices.
New Job Openings: the total number of new jobs due to changing economic activity and positions becoming vacant because of death, retirement, occupational mobility, and temporary labour force withdrawal.
New Job Seekers: the total number of new job seekers entering the labour force. This number is the sum of recent graduates from the formal post-secondary school system, recent immigrants, and people re-entering the labour force after a temporary withdrawal, e.g., child bearing or rearing, educational leave, discouragement.
Non-completers: individuals who have recently left the school system without graduating.
Occupation: a collection of jobs or types of work sharing similar skills and responsibilities.
Occupational Group: a group of similar occupations found in various industries or organizations. In Job Futures, an occupational group (3 digit NOC code) is an aggregate grouping of two or more occupations (4 digit NOC code).
see Occupational Group Q&A's
Occupational Mobility: when, for whatever reason, an individual moves from one job to another without experiencing an extended period of unemployment, e.g., worker to supervisor or manager, or is between occupations, e.g., bank teller to financial advisor.
Outsourcing: when an organization hires someone from outside to perform a predefined task, for an agreed-upon fee, in a set period of time. Synonymous with contracting-out.
Post-graduate: continuing with some level of education after the completion of a university degree program, e.g. teaching certificate, lawyer, doctor, etc.
Post-secondary: continuing with some level of education after completion of high school.
Prerequisites: the previous education, training, experience, individual abilities, skills, or qualifications required for a person to undertake a particular program of study.
Primary Industries: industries concerned with obtaining or using raw materials, for example wood or fish.
Probability: the likelihood or chances of something happening.
Profession: an occupation that requires specialized skills and advanced training.
Professional Association: an organization that represents members of a professional occupation and may set standards for education/training or professional designation.
Program of Study (Major): for purposes of analysis, the COPS group has lumped together certain programs of study. In Job Futures there are 34 trade/vocational fields of study, 42 at the community college and CEGEP level of study, 45 at the bachelor's university level, and 34 at the master's university level.
Program of Study (Broad): a grouping of major fields of study into nine broader areas of study including arts, business, education, engineering, humanities, life sciences, primary technologies, medicine and health, physical science, social sciences, and services.
Projections: a quantitatively-based view of the future economy derived through the use of historical data, computer models, expert knowledge and consultations. In reference to Job Futures, the emphasis is on future labour market conditions. Synonymous with forecast.
Rate of Return to Education: how much an investment in education will benefit individuals in terms of earnings in the long term.
Re-entrants: individuals who are returning to the labour market after an absence.
Red Seal: a nationally-registered trademark symbol adopted for the Interprovincial Standards Program to signify interprovincial qualification of tradespersons at the journeyperson level. It is affixed to provincial and territorial Certificates of Apprenticeship and Qualification of those apprentices and tradespersons who have met the national standard in a Red Seal trade. The Red Seal is a passport that allows the holder to work anywhere in Canada without having to write further examinations.
Retirement Rate: the ratio of retirements to workers in a given occupation or occupational group.
School Leavers: individuals who have recently left the school system. Includes graduates and non-completers.
see Non-completers.
Secondary Industries: industries concerned with the transformation of raw materials into goods, for example manufacturing, construction or utilities.
Sector: in some instances, this term may be used to describe a grouping of industries or a grouping of occupations.
see Industry.
Sector Council: an organization that represents an industrial sector in terms of occupations, productivity, and viability of the industry.
Self -employed: workers who work for themselves at their main job.
Skill Level: a designation used to classify occupations in the NOC by the level of training, education or experience required to perform an occupation.
Skill Type: a designation used to classify occupations in the NOC by the industry or sector in which the majority of the occupations fall.
Supply: in the context of Job Futures, this term represents the number of individuals offering their services to employers, including new entrants to the labour market as well as those with or without a job.
Tertiary Industries: refers to service industries such as retail, health, finance, etc.
Trade/Vocational: higher level of education that may or may not require the completion of high school and may involve on-the-job training as part of the course requirements.
Training: the acquisition of knowledge or skills by the performance of tasks under the direct supervision of a person who has already acquired the knowledge or skill. Training can occur on the job or in an educational program.
Trend: an ongoing change in a set of observations taken over time.
Unemployed: when an individual is not employed, is looking for work, and is available for work.
Unemployment Rate: the percentage of individuals who are actively looking for work and are able to work but do not have a job, i.e., the number of unemployed individuals divided by the total number of people 15 years of age and older who have a job or are actively looking for work multiplied by 100, expressed as a percentage.
in the context of Job Futures (occupational profiles), the unemployment rate excludes full-time students who may be actively looking for work, or who are employed, and includes only the unemployed who had a job in the past 12-month period. This allows the unemployment rate shown in Job Futures to be calculated for a particular occupation. However, this rate is lower than the published national unemployment rate due to these exclusions.
in the context of Job Futures (programs of study profiles), the unemployment rate is the percentage of graduates who are actively looking for work and are able to work but do not have a job.
University: institution of higher education beyond the high school level, offering degree and certificate programs of study from one to five years in length, as well as post-graduate studies.
Upskilling: to study or train to increase one's level of skills.