Reality Check: Why Unions Still Matter
Thursday, October 20th, 2011
October 19, 2011
A recently published study shows that “the decline of organized labor explains a fifth to a third of the growth in [American] inequality”. The latest U.S. census data, coupled with an historical analysis showing declining union membership coinciding with middle-income earners’ decreasing share of aggregate income, demonstrate just how relevant unions remain.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology, rights, standard of living
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Federal government could do much more to help universities
Thursday, September 15th, 2011
September 14, 2011
Just when the nation’s most pressing need is economic recovery, austerity is the name of the game in Ottawa, including grants to research agencies and postsecondary institutions vital to the developing Canada’s long-term social, cultural, and economic strength… The funding agencies are just one part of the federal government diminishing support for universities. Support from the Canada Social Transfer program, which flows money to the provinces for postsecondary education, is more than $400 million below what’s needed just to bring back 1992-93 funding levels (adjusting for inflation and population growth).
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, standard of living
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The tuition burden for Ontario families is rising – and regressive
Thursday, September 8th, 2011
September 7, 2011
Families have seen university tuition increase 244 per cent, in real dollars, since 1990, even though incomes have been stagnant… For professional students, it’s even worse. To support a dentistry student, for example, a lower-income family would have to devote six-and-a-half years of earnings to pay for just the tuition fees… This year, the average undergraduate student in Ontario will pay an estimated $6,500 for a year’s tuition, up from $2,500 (in 2011 dollars) in 1990… Ontario now has the highest tuition fees in Canada.
Tags: budget, ideology, participation, poverty, standard of living
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Public austerity: Why is Canada leading the way?
Thursday, September 1st, 2011
August 31, 2011
Government spending cuts in Canada are planned to be deeper than any other advanced industrial countries, points out Canadian Labour Congress economist Andrew Jackson, even though the country’s balance sheet is healthier… It’s not government debt or deficits that lie behind Canada’s economic problems; it’s the painfully slow recovery and a weak job market. The degree of austerity planned by Canadian government will only make matters worse.
Tags: budget, economy, ideology, standard of living
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Harvard study links income inequality to plummeting unionization
Wednesday, August 10th, 2011
August 10, 2011
From 1973 to 2007, wage inequality in the U.S. private sector increased by more than 40 per cent among men, and by about 50 per cent among women. At the same time, union membership plunged… “Our study underscores the role of unions as an equalizing force in the labor market… In the early 1970s, unions were important for delivering middle-class incomes to working-class families, and they enlivened politics by speaking out against inequality… These days, there just aren’t big institutional actors who are making the case for greater economic equality in America.”
Tags: ideology, standard of living
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Enrolment to soar, in spite of demographic shift
Wednesday, May 11th, 2011
May 10, 2011
The Ontario government has set a goal of seeing 70 per cent of its population earning a postsecondary credential, be it a trade certificate, a college diploma, or a university degree. The current rate is 64 per cent… if that goal is achieved, the number of full-time students at Ontario universities will rise to 485,000 by 2020, despite an expected decline in the 18-24 population. Full-time enrolment in 2010 was 398,000.
Tags: economy, participation, standard of living, youth
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Data Check: The arithmetic behind Ontario’s declining university quality
Tuesday, September 21st, 2010
September 21, 2010
More than half the Ontario faculty and librarians surveyed this year reported the quality of education at their institutions had declined in the last year. As many reported teaching larger classes than the previous year, and half reported that courses and programs had been eliminated. Here’s the math behind the survey results.
Tags: budget, standard of living
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