The growing divide in the labour market

Below is a link to an interesting article about the growing divide between jobs with high pay but that require high education and those in the service oriented field that require little education but provide low wages. This has been a trend that has been with us for well over a decade and in the coming years it's a trend that is bound to continue. Troubling for young people without the resources to attend post-secondary institutions to further their educations and a difficult public policy question as the middle ground between these two poles continue to shrink.

For Many, A New Job Means Lower Wages, Study Finds

Public Sector Wage Freeze?

Some excellent analysis over at Doorey's Workplace Law Blog about McGuinty's proposed wage freeze in the public sector. This ongoing issue is going to make for some extremely interesting dynamics in the upcoming rounds of collective agreement bargaining. One interesting point is that if a wage freeze does go through it may well drive young, high performing civil servants out of the Ontario Public Service and into the private sector. Link appears below:

Should Public Sector Workers Accept McGuinty's Wage Freeze?

Ministry of Labour deploys Employment Standards Task Force to address modernization and the backlog of claims.

Yesterday, the Ministry of Labour (MOL) in Ontario announced that the Employment Standards Task Force had started work, it was created to address the following issues: outstanding claims, long wait times for decisions from Employment Standards Officers, and to better inform employers about their obligations under the Employment Standards Act (ESA). Last week I addressed some of the concerns that advocacy groups have about the proposed changes to the ESA and over the next two years it will be interesting to monitor how this situation develops.


A link to the MOL backgrounder appears below:

Employment Standards Task Force

Parental involvement in work and school: a trend no one wants?

With the current generation there is a trend that has been oft reported in relation to post-secondary education, which is the trend of helicopter parents, who are adults who pay extremely close attention to the needs of their children while they are entering the period of young adulthood. Parents have an easy time these days keeping tabs on their children with technology like skype, BBM, texting, email, and Facebook. All of these technologies offer an environment where young people and parents are instantly accessible to each other, which in many cases can clearly hampers the cutting of umbilical cord between adolescence and nascent adulthood. 


This trend is not only problematic for the affected youth, but also for educational institutions which have to take steps to minimize and contain parental involvement. A possible aspect of this trend that hasn't been discussed up to this point in great detail is what is going to occur as this cohort progresses through their education and into the workplace. I've heard about parents accompanying their children to job fairs and asking questions on their behalf. With this generation already known as a difficult one to manage, the prospect of parents being a stakeholder in workplace dynamics should be frightening for employers.


The links to two articles appear below:


Is technology stunting postsecondary kids' growth?


Students, Welcome to College; Parents, Go Home

Innovation or stagnation: is our education system keeping Canada competitive in the global age?

Education is a key underpinning of any advanced industrial nation, but as of late a number of commentators have chimed in questioning Canada's overall approach to education. While no one would dispute that we have an excellent system overall, there has been concern in some quarters as to whether the current configuration of the education sector will sustain our economy into the next century with the same success we've seen in the past.


Yesterday, the Canadian Council on Learning released the results of a groundbreaking five year study entitled "Taking Stock of Lifelong Learning in Canada: (2005 - 2010) Progress or Complacency?", it's an interesting survey of where Canada's stands in relation to educating its population. Key findings raised include: lack of national coordination on the post-secondary system, literacy problems in a large percentage of the adult population, and the presentation of a new framework from which to view Aboriginal education. 


Below I've attached the links to a number of recent articles and reports on the state of the education sector in Canada, all the article are an interesting read and they all raise valid concerns about whether we're progressing or falling behind the eight ball. 

Taking Stock of Lifelong Learning in Canada: (2005-2010) Progress or Complacency


Who Killed Canada's Education Advantage?


The Importance of Good Data

Canadian Labour Market Improves for Youth

Attached is a link for the July 2010 Labour Force Survey from Statistics Canada. It shows an improvement for the unemployment rate for students aged 15 to 24 with an overall decline of 4.1% to 16.8% for July. Younger students in the 15 to 19 had a markedly more difficult time securing employment than students in 20 to 24 bracket. The August numbers will be out in early September, watch for another post on this topic then.

Labour Market Improves for students aged 20 to 24

U.S. Jobless Claims Fall

A glimmer of hope in America's summer of suck, U.S. jobless claim fell for the first time in a month; although, the four week average ending with this week is still up. Overall, unemployment rolls in the U.S. continue to rise as employers refuse to hire new employee as they sit and wait to see which way the economy is headed. A link to the article is below:

Jobless Claims Decline

Opportunity lost - will the new city council stop funding Toronto's priority neighbourhoods?

The thirteen priority neighbourhoods in Toronto contain some of the highest rates of poverty and crime in the region. Ringing the top and edges of Canada's first city they represent an continuing opportunity to address economic, social, and political marginalization. Presently there is an innovative program, the City of Toronto's Partnership Opportunities Legacy Fund, that allows the communities themselves to decide how funding should be utilized. This fund has been used in various ways to improve the lot of the communities involved, often the funding goes towards addressing longstanding under-resourced youth programming.


Having appropriate and well resourced youth programming is essential in providing opportunities in the priority neighbourhood. Often young people in these areas feel disengaged from the wider society due to a range of issues, be it: lack of educational opportunities, dim employment prospects, poor transportation infrastructure, or being ignored or marginalized by institutions in society. Problems of these sort are also reflected on Aboriginal reserves across the country where rates of poverty are extremely high, educational attainment low, and economic development prospects low.


Comments like those from Denzil Minnan-Wong in the recent Toronto Star article on priority neighbourhoods betray an ignorance about how government should improve the economic prospects of low income neighbourhoods. With Toronto becoming increasingly stratified along racial and economic lines it's important that more innovative initiatives of this type are enacted in larger numbers. It makes for good public policy to improve economic conditions rather than spend ever increasing amounts on policing and funding social assistance programs.


Three links are provided below to give some background on priority neighbourhoods and why it's important to continue funding for this and other initiatives.

Map of Priority Neighbourhoods in Toronto


What future for the 'priority neighbourhoods'?


Partnership Opportunities Legacy Fund Backgrounder

Global Employment Trends For Youth - New ILO Report Out

Another excellent and comprehensive report from the International Labour Organization that provides a global snapshot of the issues facing youth globally in the continuing economic turmoil. Link below:

Global Employment Trends For Youth

Possible Impacts of Bill 68 on Youth in Ontario

Bill 68, or the Open For Business Act, 2010, is an omnibus bill addressing regulatory and operating inefficiencies in the Ontario government. Schedule 9 of Bill 68 contains changes to the Employment Standards Act (ESA), among them: mandatory self-help before an ESA claim can be filed; allowing Employment Standards Officers to encourage facilitated settlements; setting time limits for the exchange of information in ESA claims; and, requiring certain information to be provided before a claim can proceed.

These changes are problematic from a perspective of access, as young workers will have even greater difficulty using the mechanisms of government to enforce their rights under the ESA. One of the express goals of these changes is to clear up the massive backlog of unresolved ESA claims; however, when a similar regime was established in British Columbia claims dropped nearly 50%. Young workers are subjected to pervasive employer violations of the ESA overtime provisions, the withholding of wages, and breaches of other pieces of legislation such as the Human Rights Code. A move in this direction is curious as the Ontario Government already provides direct access services in the area of employment with the Human Rights Legal Support Centre and the Office of the Worker Adviser. 

Below I’ve provided two links to provide some context to this post, one is the excellent submission to the Ontario legislature by the Workers' Action Centre and the other being proceedings at the hearings into Bill 68 held earlier this summer.

WRC Submissions on Bill 68

Committee Transcripts: Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs

Blackberry overtime: the rise of the 24/7 workplace

Young people today have been brought up in a technology saturated culture that is creating demands unseen in past generations. With the rise of instant messaging, blackberries, social media, email, and other communication tools, today's office environment can be a place where an employee is always 'at work' and accessible to supervisors, clients, and other employees. While communication tools can increase productivity and facilitate projects there can also be a downside where employment related concerns can intrude on what was traditionally considered private and personal time.

In relation to young people, one could easily ask if the Employment Standard Act (ESA) provisions related to overtime are working considering the rapid rise of technology and the myriad of ways it can be used in the workplace. Often times young people are willing to let things slide or are unaware of the rules related to overtime. From a human resources perspective these are issues that are rapidly evolving and there is no clear consensus about best practices in these emerging areas. Should government be exploring the possible regulation of technology in the workplace and begin examining whether the current statutory regime is adequate with the rapid pace of development related to technology? The link to the article appears below:

'Blackberry overtime': Technology creating around-the-clock workers

Sudbury, a brave new world?

Interesting article about Laurentian University's efforts to attract top students to study in Sudbury. As the McGuinty government seeks to bring more international students to Ontario it'll be fascinating to see what new initiatives are put in place by post-secondary institutions to bring in talent.


A couple questions consider is what role does education play in transitioning from a manufacturing economy to a knowledge based one and should we be completely abandoning manufacturing as a sector of our economy? The link to the article appears below:

Why Sudbury is an unlikely magnet for global education

The Expanding Crisis in Youth Employment

One of the goals of this blog is to explore the public policy dimensions of youth (un)employment in both the context of domestic social, economic, and legal policy and in the wider realm of what other states are doing to address youth employment issues. I'm always interested in comparative analysis for determining best practices for public policy initiatives.

It's clear than the recent economic crisis has had enormous impacts on near-term employment prospects for youth in many jurisdictions. Be it Greece where youth unemployment could possibly top 28% by the last quarter of 2010 or within my own circle of friends where precarious employment situations seem to be the norm.

This is an important issue from any number of perspectives. From a human resources standpoint having highly educated young men and women filling unskilled positions or working in the informal economy makes little sense for either employers or government. From a public policy perspective having a significant amount of the population not participating in the labour market or being in a situation of long-term unemployment is problematic. 

For a local example of this situation, look at how young people from Ireland are flooding Toronto in sizable numbers. A post on Twitter yesterday from a manager of a local business indicated that 30% of the job applicants were Irish. In a world where globalization is the watchword, the economic crisis has created phenomena that haven't been seen in generations, such as this emigration previously mentioned.

Recently the International Labour Organization (ILO) released a report entitled "Youth Employment in Crisis". It's an excellent summary of the dimensions and the extent that the economic has impacted young people globally. A link to the report appears below:

Youth Employment In Crisis

Unemployment Up Stateside

The numbers for initial jobless claims in the United States were released today and they seem to indicate that employers are cutting jobs again in response to a slowdown in the economy. Link is below:

U.S. Employers Cutting Jobs Again?

What Is It About 20-Somethings?

I came across this excellent article in the New York Times while on the interweb today. It discusses the phenomenon of young people delaying starting careers, moving back in with their parents, and generally taking longer to meet the various milestones that are used to judge success in becoming adults. This trend was well under way before the start of the recession, but the economic conditions have certainly accelerated it.


Whether due to dimming job prospects, uncertainty in relationships, continuing educational pursuits, or the endless choices with which the current generation is faced, this is a trend that is accelerating and becoming more pronounced. You can access the article from the link below.


What Is It About 20-Somethings?

Youth & Work Blog

I've been mulling over starting this blog for awhile now. There is a dearth of websites directed at young people in relation to issues relating to employment in Canada and I felt that something needs to be done to address this.                                                                                         


There are few things more critical in life than employment and from speaking with my friends it has become clear that examining aspects of work in relation to youth in Canada is a topic with endless possibilities for exploration. Be they the job market, problematic employment situations, precariousness, higher education, or future development in legislation - there will be no shortage of ideas and issues to comment on in the coming years.


The blog is going to take a wide angle in examining issues related to youth, employment, labour relations, labour market conditions, and developments related to these issues. I'll come at issues mainly from a legal and sociological perspective at the start, given that these are the areas that I have the most training in. As the blog progresses and I gain more experience, I'm going to open it up to different perspectives with interviews, guest contributors, and other fascinating insights.


It's going to be interesting and I thank everyone in advance for reading.