Response to the Business Council on National Issues statement on competitiveness, arguing that quality workplaces are critical to this agenda.
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A good job is hard to find
The people rhetoric of the ‘Alberta Advantage’ is weak in practice. Needed is a more human resource-intensive economic developement strategy in the province of Alberta. This means creating workplaces where learning, innovation and skill can more fully contribute to productivity and competitiveness.
Work aspirations and attitudes in an era of labour market restructuring: a comparison of two Canadian cohorts
This article tests the assumption that youth’s work attitudes are changing to reflect the restructured labour markets that often are taken as a characteristic of late-modernity. Comparing 1985 and 1996 cohorts of high school leavers in a Canadian city, we find that occupational aspirations increased significantly since 1985, especially among females, in ways consistent with […]
Surveying the ‘post-industrial’ landscape: information technologies and labour market polarization in Canada
A key issue in recent debates over the impact of new technologies on work is the polarization of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ jobs within the ‘post-industrial’ economy. Two dimensions skill andearnings have been of central concern. Contrary to earlier predictions of more homogenous patterns of either work upgrading or degrading, evidence of polarization reveals far more […]
Rethinking contingent work
Contingent work now encompasses more than one in five workers. It is time to move beyond describing the details of this trend by proving the changes it signals in employment relationships. This paper examines the implications of contingent work for workers, employers, unions and professional associations. Based on the author's presentation to the British Columbia […]
Job Quality: The Missing Link Between School and Work
The litmus test for a “knowledge economy” is how well students make the school to work transition. Even if schools, technical institutes, colleges and universities meet rigorous standards of excellence fulfilling their mandates – as many do – there is clear evidence that employers are underutilizing the “human capital” embodied in these grads as they […]
Literacy Utilization in Canadian Workplaces
Adults with limited literacy skills have long been a cause for concern since such individuals have difficulty coping in a complex society. However, the focus of debate regarding the adult literacy "problem" has shifted as concerns about national economic competitiveness have come to dominate public policy discussions. Thus, literacy has become a central human resource […]
The future of work: implications for unions
It is essential for unions to address the intense pressures for change now found in workplaces. While nowhere near as cataclysmic as futurists would suggest, these forces pose major dilemmas for unions – as well as opportunities. This article suggests that if unions seize the challenges presented by these currents of workplace change, they will […]