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The much-maligned liberal arts degree tends to be the first thing we sacrifice at the altar of the looming ‘talent crisis.’ If only Canadians pursued serious STEM educations, the argument goes, we would be more competitive in the global marketplace.

This line of logic, however, has never jived well with the facts. By international standards, Canadian students demonstrate above average competency in math, science and creative problem solving (as well as reading). It is not until Canadians enter the workforce that a skills deficit presents itself.

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tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Canada’s private sector will have nobody to blame for the ‘talent crisis’ but themselves Back to video

So where then is Canada fumbling?

Workforce 2020, a new survey by Oxford Economics of more than 5,400 executives and employees from 27 different countries, may provide some answers.

According to the survey, only 38% of Canadian businesses widely offer training to develop proficiency with emerging technologies. In the United States, 51% of businesses widely offer these programs. In Canada, 19% of employees claim to be comfortable with cloud technology and data analysis (commonly known as “analytics”). In the United States, employees claim to have an equal grasp of analytics and a superior comfort with the cloud.