The Year in Review

First, an apology as I haven't written much in awhile. This wasn't due to unintentional neglect, rather I had a couple projects that needed to be wrapped up. Both of which took up an inordinate amount of time over the past couple months. 

2012 turned out to be a fairly interesting year for writing about domestic youth labour market issues. There was a lot going on in terms of political inaction, adoption of regressive policy, entrenchment of neoliberal modes of thinking, and the strategic abandonment of youths in Canadian society. That being said, there was also a lot of hope on display with the Maple Spring's hugely successful anti-neoliberalism protests, the toppling of Charest's corrupt administration in Québec, and the late entry of the Idle No More Aboriginal rights movement.

The top rated blog posts on Youth and Work from 2012 generally focused on the intersection of unpaid labour, the abuse of institutional power, and the exploitation of young workers. The top five posts (by page views) are overviewed below with some pithy commentary.

Number Five: "Who Let the Dogs Out? A Rebuttal to Bruce Feldthusen". This is the type of post I call "The Emperor's New Clothes". Essentially, a take-down of a powerful figure who is doing something I find distasteful. I have no idea if Dean Feldthusen actually believes the talking points he's spewing, but I'll give him some free advice: no one is buying the party line.

Number Four: "Bridge to Nowhere: Inside the Canadian Law School Scam". This is another Dean Feldthusen themed post from the first half of 2012. I thought it was fairly insightful as it displayed the problems that recent law graduates face in a saturated labour market and the hostile attitude of callous law school administrators. 

Number Three: "The London, Ontario riots, stupidity, and social media.". Social media is terribly dangerous in a myriad of ways. This example shows what can happen when you mix too much alcohol, a little gasoline, bored youths, and the most banal city in Ontario.

Number Two: "Why are law firms addicted to unpaid work?". This is my personal favourite in the top five as it exposes the seedy underbelly of the legal profession and the illegal practices that some firms deploy to bolster their bottom lines. 

Number One: "Why can't Bell Canada pay its interns?". Bell Canada's Professional Management Program is by far the most egregious example of outright exploitation of young workers by a large Canadian corporation. This is the blog post garnered the most attention by far, clocking in at 10,000 page views and counting.

So that's a wrap on 2012, but what does 2013 hold for the Youth and Work? Well, the blog will be incorporating increased video content with additional interviews with labour market experts, focusing more on the impact of labour market insecurity and precarious work on youths, and using a greater amount of sociological theory (I actually have a degree in sociology) to root observations about the place of youths in Canadian society. You'll want to be reading as the fun is just getting started. Trust me, I'm a lawyer.