Fredericton Entrepreneurship hub Planet Hatch has bagged $164,000 in federal funding to expand its job training service, the Future of Work Skills Program.

The money will be provided by the federal government’s Future Skills Centre, which was created to retrain workers for the digital economy. Planet Hatch is one of 64 organizations chosen to administer the centre’s new initiative, "Shock-Proofing the Future of Work: Skills Innovation Challenge."

Starting last June, Planet Hatch began partnering with organizations including the University of New Brunswick and the province’s Education and Early Childhood Development department to deliver entrepreneurship training to youths aged 16 to 28 via a 12-module program. The Future Skills Centre funding will help pay for the expansion of that initiative.

The training focuses on skills for operating in the high-tech economy, which Planet Hatch said in a press release “also happen to be those skills most sought by employers and least at-risk of being disrupted by technological advancements.”

The need to retrain many Canadian workers is pressing. RBC estimates that half of all professions in Canada will require their workers to undergo “significant skills overhauls” by 2028. And consulting firm McKinsey & Company estimates that more than two thirds of companies globally are accelerating their investments in automation and artificial intelligence, thanks partly to the pandemic.

“A top-of-mind concern for all employers is accessing and retaining talent that is skilled, innovative and resilient,” said Planet Hatch Director Adam Peabody in a press release. “The Future of Work Skills Program is designed to work with educators and employers to produce such talent while future-proofing the Canadian labour force.

“The investment in this program by the Future Skills Centre will help us expand program access to learners across Atlantic Canada.”