For example, a person was 12 percent more likely to be in a cognitively more complex job in 1991 than in 1971. Skills upgrading appears to have accelerated during the 1980s, picking up speed during the latter part of that decade. Despite increases in occupational skill requirements, a large proportion of Canadian jobs continue to be low skilled. In 1991, almost one-half of workers were still in jobs requiring less than six months of training. Almost 40 percent were in jobs that involved the repetition of fairly simple tasks.
Women are more heavily concentrated in lower-skilled jobs than men.
The study does, however, point to a narrowing of the skills gap in employment for men and women. In 1971, women were only 60 percent as likely to be in jobs requiring the highest level of training. By 1991, for example, that ratio had increased to 80 percent a considerable reduction in the occupational skills gap as measured by training requirements. The approach of this study is limited by its necessary reliance on the skills measures based on a national occupational classification system developed in the late 1960s, and the implicit assumption that the skill content of occupations has remained constant over the years. Despite this limitation, the results of this study are generally consistent with the findings of other Canadian studies, making it a valuable addition to our knowledge of the changing skill levels of Canadian jobs.