Archive for the ‘Employment Debates’ Category
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The caging of capitalism
Mar. 05, 2012
It has taken a century to turn capitalism from an awesome force of nature, rude, raw and rambunctious, to the subservient thing it is today… Getting the right balance between economic and political freedoms isn’t as easy as ideological rhetoric makes it appear.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, rights, standard of living
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High levels of inequality jeopardize Canada’s ability to succeed
Feb 24 2012
There is substantial evidence that “human capital” — the knowledge and skills that make people innovative — is socially determined… A person’s health is also an important factor, both in terms of educational outcomes and productivity. Thus inequality and poverty, which are both associated with poor health outcomes, are worrying from an innovation standpoint as well… Canada ranks 15th out of 20, and drops to 16th spot in terms of child poverty… Instead of investing people, Canadian governments have given huge tax breaks to businesses in the hopes of spurring innovation.
Tags: budget, featured, Health, ideology, poverty, standard of living
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Older workers age 60-plus represent 8 per cent of the workforce, but account for 30 per cent of new job gains
Feb. 23, 2012
… since mid-2009, when the economic recovery began, until January 2012, people 60 or older have accounted for about one-third of all net new job gains. That’s striking considering they only represent 8 per cent of the total labour force… And the reasons for this are many, from being healthy and living longer to the end of mandatory retirement in Ontario, says a new report from TD Economics called Older Workers Stampede into the Labour Market… older Canadians are looking for flexible work arrangements that can include part-time, temporary work and self-employment.
Tags: economy, pensions, standard of living
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Exploiting Canada’s resources can be a fool’s game
Feb. 22, 2012
Canada has one of the worst productivity records in the industrialized world. Upon productivity improvements household incomes depend, not burgeoning household debt. When you ask why median household incomes stagnated for a long time in Canada, and why the lowest-income Canadians have gotten poorer, one reason (among many) is low productivity… If nothing changes, taxes will certainly have to rise on them just to deal with aging alone, unless those who remain in the work force are more productive… Without better productivity, forget real income growth.
Tags: economy, globalization, privatization, standard of living
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The world’s losing its workers. How will we compete?
Feb. 11, 2012
The world’s supply of working-age people will soon be shrinking, causing a shift from surplus to scarcity… There are currently almost five working-age Canadians whose income taxes pay the pension and health-care costs of each retiree; within 20 years, there will be only three. As a result, according to Ottawa, health-care costs will double and social-service costs will rise by a third… Immigration has spared Canada from the worst of aging, but immigrants adopt host-country family sizes very quickly, so they’re a temporary fix.
Tags: economy, globalization, standard of living, youth
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Sweet spot for low-wage earners: after-tax salaries of $30,000 or more a year
Feb 10 2012
… low-wage workers experience the biggest jump in financial well-being, personal skills and connections to family and community when their after-tax incomes rise to between $30,000 and $40,000. “This is when a single wage earner moves from merely existing to living,” says Peter Frampton, executive director of the Learning Enrichment Foundation, which is conducting the research in partnership with the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE)… “We think this shows in very real terms what a person needs to earn to feel a sense of financial and personal well-being,”
Tags: budget, participation, standard of living
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Prime Minister Stephen Harper boasts about Canada’s economic performance while jobs vanish and pensions shrink
Feb 09 2012
What we are seeing is a power shift. Governments and corporations are limiting their risk exposure at the expense of their citizens and employees. This trend is not new, but it accelerated sharply in 2012. We knew Harper had no intention of bolstering public pensions. But no one imagined he would make life harder for seniors, without any warning or public discussion.
Tags: budget, economy, globalization, ideology, pensions, standard of living
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Why isn’t EI reform on Harper government’s radar?
Feb. 01, 2012
A system that treated each jobless worker equally regardless of the local environment would encourage labour mobility and improve productivity. No wonder Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall damns the existing system as a “huge disincentive against getting people to go where there is a job. The principle infused into this ought to encourage people to go where the work is.” … Whatever the reason, reforming employment insurance so that all workers are treated equally, however much it would benefit the economy, is a can the Tories appear to have kicked down the road.
Tags: budget, ideology, standard of living, tax
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Bow Down Canadians, Corporations Are King
Jan. 30, 2012
What kind of society beggars those of its citizens who worked all their lives and now want to retire in dignity while privileging the rich and super-rich by slashing their income taxes and allowing them to transfer wealth to their children untouched? … Since the mid-1980s, and accelerating with the signing of the Canada-U.S. “free trade” deal, the guiding principle of neo-liberalism seems to have been “Ask not what your economy can do for you, ask what you can do for your economy.” … The economy is now defined as the narrow interests of global corporations.
Tags: budget, economy, featured, globalization, ideology, privatization, standard of living, tax
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Squeezing the middle
Jan. 23, 2012
Most Canadians are guaranteed nothing by our lean, mean, globalized economy. Even university-educated specialists (like accountants or programmers) have been squeezed by new technology, and by trade rules which allow corporations to outsource any job to the lowest global bidder… About the only structural protections most Canadians have going for them are public programs (like health care, education and pensions), and unions (to help equalize their power with employers). Yet these are under attack, too, from the same governments that allow (even glorify) the social irresponsibility of corporations. Governments are cutting the social wage as employers try to slash money wages.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, rights, standard of living
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