Fair Winds and Full Sails: Job Transition Pathways in NL
The Job Transition Pathways (JTP) Research Project explores how workers in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) can move toward long-term employment stability in a changing labour market. Built on the original JTP Model developed by the Dais in 2019, the project was expanded and applied to the entire provincial labour market as opposed to a specific industry or geographical area. Phase One, led by the Dais, identified high-potential job pathways into the growing occupations across the province. Phase Two, led by NLWIC, took a deeper dive into those pathways through focus groups, interviews, and surveys, gathering insights to better understand how workers can navigate transitions and adapt to disruption.
Fair Winds and Full Sails: A Report
Newfoundland and Labrador’s labor market is influenced by rural-urban disparities, a declining population, and significant project-specific demands in sectors such as renewable energy, oil and gas, and construction. Addressing these challenges necessitated a greater insight into talent utilization with a focus on skills vs credentials, enhanced collaboration among stakeholders, and innovative solutions for meeting current labour market demands.
The Report Fair Winds and Full Sails: Towards Long Term Stability for Workers in Newfoundland and Labrador assesses industry trends, employer and industry needs, skills and training gaps, and policy factors to identify clear barriers and facilitators to job transition pathways from declining to growing occupations in NL. It describes the current landscape of the NL labour market and provides a unique blueprint for job transitions based on skills adjacency and transferability. This is meant to assist and enable workers to achieve long-term employment stability while reducing the challenges associated with labour market disruptions.
Fair Winds and Full Sails: A Playbook
Welcome to the Fair Winds and Full Sails: Charting Job Transition Pathways in Newfoundland and Labrador Playbook designed to assist you in navigating job transitions within NL. This resource is modeled after the Dais’ Job Pathways Playbook, “Building Pathways to Navigate Mid-Career Transitions,” originally published in 2020 and updated in 2021. The Playbook builds on proven strategies while tailoring its approach to meet the unique needs of NL’s labour market.
Developed as part of the Dais-NLWIC collaborative research initiative, this Playbook serves as a supplement to the Final Report, “Fair Winds and Full Sails: Towards Long Term Stability for Workers in Newfoundland and Labrador.” It consolidates local insights and valuable resources to create clear and actionable pathways that support job transitions for workers, while also serving as a practical guide for stakeholders navigating NL’s evolving labour market.
The goal of the research was to simplify the process of identifying opportunities for those seeking to transition into growing industries within NL. Whether you are a career practitioner, policymaker, employer, or educator, the Playbook and Report provide a distinct road map for all those shaping and supporting the workforce. The report also highlights the unique needs of immigrants, persons with disabilities, Indigenous peoples, women, and youth, offering insights into how meaningful employment opportunities in growing sectors can better support their inclusion in the labour market.
With a focus on actionable strategies and localized labour market information, these resources offer practical and relevant solutions to empowering stakeholders with evidence-based knowledge and tested strategies to advance workforce development within NL.
Our Funders and Collaborators
Funding for the Job Transition Pathways research project collaboration is provided by the Department of Jobs, Immigration and Growth under the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Market Development Agreement, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), and the Max Bell Foundation.
The authors, NL Workforce Innovation Centre (NLWIC) and the Dais, would like to thank the Job Transition Pathways (JTP) Advisory Committee, the Dais team members, NLWIC team members, and all the key provincial stakeholders who participated in and contributed to the Job Transition Pathways Research Project consultations through interviews, focus groups, and worker survey throughout 2024.
