Are Canadian Jobs More or Less Skilled than American Jobs?

This study provides a first look at the skill level requirements of jobs held by Canadian and American workers. In total, the study examines 35 different skills including STEM skills and skills in several complementary areas. Focusing on the skill level requirements of jobs (as opposed to those for workers) is important given that workers’ skills are not guaranteed to be used in their job. The reasons for this include capital investments, technological changes (which may complement or substitute the skills of workers), shifting product demand and the quality of the match between employer demands and workers’ skills.

This study compares the level of job skills in Canada and the United States by combining occupational data on job skill levels from the Occupational Information Network with worker-level data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies.