Archive for the ‘Economy/Employment’ Category
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Chrystia Freeland Wants to Fix the Twenty-first Century
For 2018, which is Canada’s year as G7 president, the Trudeau government promises to make women’s rights and climate action priority issues. Freeland says that, in the coming years, she hopes to focus on several human rights emergencies… “How I think we need to do Canadian foreign policy,” says Freeland, “is to know what our values are, build coalitions around those things, and then be constantly alert for situations in the world where, by acting, we can make a difference.” The liberal order doesn’t begin and end with nafta.
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Wage wars, trade wars, and virtual economic reality
Statistically, the provincial economy is the strongest in decades. Ontario’s 5.5 per cent unemployment rate is the lowest this century, economic growth has been best in the West since 2014, interest rates are low and the budget is balanced. Tell that to vulnerable workers. Or the venerable Ontario Chamber of Commerce… Even the latest uproar over the minimum wage appears to be a battle of perception versus performance — or virtual reality versus economic reality.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, participation, standard of living, tax
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Buckle up: Final NAFTA talks will be a bumpy ride
Canada is the world’s biggest buyer of America’s exports…. “We buy more from the U.S. than America sells to China, Japan and the U.K. combined.”… Canada also accounts for a remarkable one-quarter of all U.S. small-business exports… Our enthusiasm for multilateral trade deals has not been matched by Canadian exporters exploiting those deals to crack offshore markets… our less than intrepid exporters should concern us as much as a NAFTA in limbo.
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, standard of living
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Big little lies
Yes, it turns out, small business creates lots of new jobs. But small business also destroys lots of jobs, because so many tiny companies go bust. If you look at the net number of jobs generated, small firms’ ability to create employment is nothing special… Handing out special favours to small businesses rewards companies for staying tiny and relatively inefficient rather than pushing them to grow and achieve economies of scale.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, tax
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After the Sears debacle, why is Ontario making it easier to underfund pensions?
Leaving retirees to scramble in their golden years is cruel, and it is unconscionable to expect an overtaxed middle class to foot the bill for corporate chicanery. If governments won’t stop companies from dodging their pension obligations, it’s just a matter of time before we see the next Sears Canada. And that’s a prospect that should worry us all.
Tags: crime prevention, economy, featured, jurisdiction, pensions, rights
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Alberta’s minimum wage hike working despite gloomy predictions
If an inexpensive meal in a restaurant can only be provided on the backs of people slaving away in the kitchen for next to nothing maybe we should consider a restaurant that charges a bit more. If we really need qualified, caring people to look after our children and our elders shouldn’t we be prepared to pay them what that is worth to us? And what about all those women who keep hotel rooms clean and tidy? Are we getting a good room rate because they don’t earn enough to properly support their families?
Tags: economy, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Many Working Families Face Tax Trap
Working parents with children—particularly low-income families— face prohibitive tax rates that discourage taking on extra employment to get ahead, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Two-Parent Families with Children: How Effective Tax Rates Affect Work Decisions” author Alexandre Laurin finds that mothers and poorer families are the most adversely affected by this tax trap.
Tags: child care, participation, standard of living, tax, women
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Why a guaranteed minimum income is a better option than raising the minimum wage
Rather than blithely decreeing that employers must pay their employees an amount the rest of us think appropriate, and hoping it all works out for the best, the option is open to us as a society to put our money where our mouths are: to finance a decent minimum income for all with our taxes — which unlike wages are not so easily avoided. Maybe this latest increase in the minimum wage will prove less harmful than feared, but it is certain to be more harmful than the alternative: a minimum income, socially guaranteed and socially financed.
Tags: economy, featured, ideology, poverty, standard of living, tax
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Pick a fight with me Mr. Joyce, not those working the Tim Hortons pickup window
Big businesses and major corporations continue to celebrate record profits, while many people in this province juggle multiple jobs and still can’t afford the basics. CEOs enjoy massive salary increases while their workers can’t pay their bills. That’s not right, and it’s not who we are as a society. It’s past time we put people ahead of profits.
Tags: economy, featured, globalization, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Canada’s unemployment rate plunges to lowest in 40 years
The jobless rate fell to 5.7 per cent in December, Statistics Canada said Friday in Ottawa, the lowest in the current data series that begins in 1976. The number of jobs rose by 78,600, bringing the full-year employment gain to 422,500. That’s the best annual increase since 2002. The gain of 78,600 positions far exceeded the expectations of analysts… The nation added 394,200 full-time jobs last year, the biggest gain since 1999
Tags: economy, participation
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