Perry Work Report, April 11, 2014

April 11, 2014

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In Defense of Public Broadcasting

"As dark clouds loom over the future of the CBC, the former head of programming at BBC Radio 4 makes a fiery, unapologetic case for public broadcasting.  At an event at the University of Toronto’s Massey College, Mark Damazer talks about why it matters, how to defend it and the importance of fighting against a prolonged death by a thousand cuts.”

Click here to listen.

CBC Radio, The Sunday Edition, April 7, 2014: “In defense of public broadcasting - Mark Damazer, former BBC boss”

The Globe and Mail, April 10, 2014: “CBC cuts 650 full-time jobs; reduces sports coverage,” by Simon Houpt

"Fact is, the CBC is ever more relevant in the current Canadian broadcasting landscape. A landscape that the CRTC has allowed to come into existence. A landscape in which only three main commercial players exist -- Bell, Shaw and Rogers."

"Those three look increasingly arrogant, reeking of hubris, and each is, in its own way, in a narcissistic bubble. Each owns multiple outlets and each looks on the competition, other media and the public with scorn. Commercial broadcasting in Canada is protected to the point of being coddled by regulation. And this has created a mood of self-satisfaction, which makes the CBC’s alleged sense of entitlement look puny."

The Globe and Mail, April 9, 2014: “We’re asking the wrong question about the CBC,” by John Doyle

"We find that CBC/Radio-Canada has a substantial positive impact on the Canadian economy, supporting jobs and businesses across the country. We estimate that, in 2010, CBC/Radio-Canada’s expenditure of $1.7 billion in Canada generated $3.7 billion gross value added, a measure of overall contribution to the Canadian economy CBC Radio-Canada ‘Value far beyond the broadcast: value for many, and value for money.’"

Deloitte, June 2011: “The Economic Impact of CBC/Radio-Canada” (97 pages, PDF)

CBC Radio-Canada: “Value far beyond the broadcast: value for many, and value for money”

Friends of Canadian Broadcasting website

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Federal Unions Fight Back

"The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada has filed a policy grievance on behalf of 17 unions against key provisions of employees’ new mandatory performance agreements, saying these violate collective agreements. The regime came into effect last week."

Ottawa Citizen, April 6, 2014: “Unions launch grievance against new federal rules on employee performance”, by Katherine May

Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, February 2104: "Performance Management Program for Employees"

Canada School of Public Services, April 1, 2014: "Performance Management -- New Directive on Performance Management"

"Claude Poirier, president of the Canadian Association of Professional Employees, said his union, which represents economists and statisticians, initiated a “myth buster” campaign to present the facts he argues the government deliberately distorted to win public opinion. The union’s list of nine myths is being distributing to members, MPs, senators and the public.”

Ottawa Citizen, April 6, 2014: "Public service unions launch web campaign against government ‘myths’ on sick leave,” by Katherine May

Canadian Association of Professional Employees, April 2014: "Nine Myths About Sick Leave" (7 pages, PDF)

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B.C. McDonald's Franchise at Centre of Latest Foreign Worker Case

“McDonald’s is launching a comprehensive review of its use of temporary foreign workers in Canada after the federal government suspended a franchise owner who operates three locations in Victoria.”

"For the first time, the federal government is publicly naming employers who have been banned or suspended from the Temporary Foreign Worker Program for breaking the rules -- including one of the world’s most recognizable corporate brands."

"The operator of the McDonald’s franchises -- Nasib Services Inc. -- has been suspended in part because the government says there are reasonable grounds to suspect the employer provided false, misleading or inaccurate information in applying to the program."

The Globe and Mail, April 7, 2014: “B.C. McDonald’s franchise at center of latest foreign worker case,” by Bill Curry and Justine Hunter

“‘The pattern is that the temporary foreign workers are getting more shifts and that the Canadians are getting less,’ said employee Kalen Christ, a McDonald’s ‘team leader’ who has worked at the Victoria location for four years”

“The government probe began after Christ told Go Public the fast food outlet is bringing in Filipino workers while cutting local staffers’ hours and turning away dozens of seemingly qualified Canadians seeking jobs.”

“’I saw them walk in and apply. I saw the resumes, and there were lots,’ said Christ. He said he has seen 50 resumes submitted by local applicants at the Pandora Avenue franchise in recent months. ‘It’s sad. Some of them would have university on their resume, and they weren’t being hired, even at McDonald’s.’”

"He said a manager told staff the store wasn’t hiring because up to nine new Filipino workers were coming, who still haven’t arrived."

CBC News, April 7, 2014: “McDonald’s accused of favouring foreign workers,” by Kathy Tomlinson

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Profiting from the Precarious

"There are over 338,000 migrant workers in Canada. This number has more than doubled since 2006. As Canada increasingly relies on a work force of transnational migrant workers with temporary status, an industry of third-party for-profit recruiters has emerged to match workers with jobs in Canada."

"Profiting from the Precarious: How recruitment practices exploit migrant workers exposes how temporary foreign workers are paying thousands of dollars in recruiting fees -- equal to as much as two to three years’ wages in their home currency -- to work in minimum wage jobs in Ontario.”

"Even though a 2009 Ontario law prohibits recruitment fees for live-in caregivers, two-thirds of them have paid fees since the law took effect. Nearly one in five arrives to find the job they were promised does not exist yet they remain indebted to informal money lenders. Meanwhile migrant workers in other ‘lower skilled’ jobs and in agriculture are completely unprotected by the law and are targeted by similar predatory practices.”

MetCalf Foundation, April 2014: “Profiting from the Precarious: How recruitment practices exploit migrant workers,” by Fay Faraday

Read the full report here (98 pages, PDF), and a summary of the report here (57 pages, PDF).

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Gloomy Outlook in Ontario Finance Minister's Economic Report

"An aging population and slower labour-force growth will contribute to sluggish economic growth in Ontario over the next two decades, the province predicts in its long-term economic report."

"[The] report states there is a need for policies to further reduce barriers faced by older workers in the labour market. ‘These include facilitating flexible retirement plans such as gradual reduction of working hours while contributing to pension plans; flexible work schedules; opportunities for older workers to upgrade skills; supporting work/life balance; and promoting the health and well-being of workers in the workplace,’ the report says."

The Toronto Star, April 2, 2014: Dana Flavelle, Richard J. Brennan, and Robert Benzie

Ontario Ministry of Finance, April 2014: “Ontario’s Long-Term Report on the Economy”

Ontario Ministry of Finance, April 2014: “Ontario’s Long-Term Report on the Economy” (210 pages, PDF) [click here for the interactive PDF version]

RBC Economics, March 2014: “Growth in our own backyard…” (5 pages, PDF)

Related reports from the Ontario Chamber of Commerce:

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Paycheck Fairness Act Blocked For the Third Time

On Wednesday April 9, 2014, just one day after Equal Pay Day in the United States, “Senate Republicans blocked a vote… to open debate on the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would hold employers more accountable for wage discrimination against women.”

"The Paycheck Fairness Act would prohibit retaliation against employees who share their salary information with each other, in hopes of eliminating the culture of silence that keeps women in the dark about pay discrimination. It would also require the Department of Labor to collect wage data from employers, broken down by race and gender, and require employers to show that wage differentials between men and women in the same jobs are for a reason other than sex."

"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he is still waiting to hear from Republicans exactly why the bill is bad policy. ‘Are they so repulsed by equal pay for hardworking women that they’ll obstruct equal pay for equal work?’ he asked colleagues on Wednesday [April 8, 2014]. ‘Republicans have come to the floor and tried to offer amendments that have nothing to do with equal pay. Nothing. I’m at a loss as to why anyone would decline to debate this important issue.’"

The Huffington Post, April 9, 2014: “Senate Republicans Block Paycheck Fairness Act For Third Time,” by Laura Basset

Pew Research Center, April 8, 2014: “On Equal Pay Day, key facts about the gender pay gap,” by Eileen Patten

The Atlantic, April 8, 2014: “The Unexpected Benefit of Telling People What Their Coworkers Make,” by Emiliano Huet-Vaughn

University of California, Berkley, Job Market Paper, November 2013: “Striving for Status: A Field Experiment on Relative Earnings and Labor Supply,” by Emiliano Huet-Vaughn (54 pages, PDF)

An analysis of the latest U.S. Census Bureau data by the National Partnership for Women and Families shows that the gender-based wage gap affects women in nearly every corner of the country.

Click here to view an interactive map that shows the wage gap in each state.

The National Partnership for Women and Families, April 2014: “What’s the Wage Gap in the States?”

The National Partnership for Women and Families, April 2014 -- Fact Sheets:

The situation is not much better in Canada.

"In 2013 the Equal Pay Coalition declared April 9th as Equal Pay Day. The latest stats show that the gender pay gap in Ontario has actually widened. That's why for 2014 Equal Pay Day is: April 16th, 2014.”

"Although pay equity is the law in Ontario, women, on average, earn 31% less than men. This pay gap affects women of all ages and education levels."

"Women are often paid less, even when their skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions are similar to men’s. Women of colour, Aboriginal women and women with disabilities face the worst discrimination."

Equal Pay Coalition website

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New Research on Gender Bias in the Media

"The Women’s Media Center commissioned Global News Intelligence (GNI) researchers to analyze 27,000 pieces of content from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, 2013. The survey focused on the gender breakdown of full-time newsroom staffers, paid freelance journalists and non-paid content contributors from the following news organizations: ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, Chicago Sun-Times, The Denver Post, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, San Jose Mercury News, USA TODAY, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, New York Daily News, New York Post, The Associated Press, Reuters, CNN.com, Daily Beast, FOXNews.com and The Huffington Post.”

Women’s Media Centre, April 3, 2014: “New Research Shines Light on Gender Bias in Major U.S. Broadcast, Print, Online, & Wire Outlets: Male Journalists Dominate Most Sectors”

Women’s Media Center, April 2014: “The Status of Women in the U.S. Media 2014” (82 pages, PDF)

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A Rise in Stay-at-Home Mothers

"The share of mothers who do not work outside the home rose to 29% in 2012, up from a modern-era low of 23% in 1999, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of government data."

"This rise over the past dozen years represents the reversal of a long-term decline in “stay-at-home” mothers that had persisted for the last three decades of the 20th century."

"The recent turnaround appears to be driven by a mix of demographic, economic and societal factors, including rising immigration as well as a downturn in women’s labor force participation, and is set against a backdrop of continued public ambivalence about the impact of working mothers on young children."

PEW Research, April 8, 2014: “After Decades of Decline, A Rise in Stay-at-Home Mothers,” by D’Vera Cohn, Gretchen Livingston and Wendy Wang

PEW Research, April 8, 2014: “After Decades of Decline, A Rise in Stay-at-Home Mothers,” by D’Vera Cohn, Gretchen Livingston and Wendy Wang (37 pages, PDF)

PEW Research, April 8, 2014: “7 key findings about stay-at-home moms”, by D’Vera Cohn and Andrea Caumont

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Is College Worth It? Even Stats Canada Can't Tell You

"Some degrees pay for themselves; others don’t. American schoolkids pondering whether to take on huge student loans are constantly told that college is the gateway to the middle class."

"College graduates aged 25 to 32 who are working full time earn about $17,500 more annually than their peers who have only a high school diploma, according to the Pew Research Centre, a think-tank. But not all degrees are equally useful."

"PayScale, a research firm, has gathered data on the graduates of more than 900 universities and colleges, asking them what they studied and how much they now earn. The company then factors in the cost of a degree, after financial aid… From this, PayScale estimates the financial returns of many different types of degree (see chart).”

"[However] the PayScale study surely overstates the financial value of a college education. It does not compare graduates’ earnings to what they would have earned, had they skipped college. (That number is unknowable.) It compares their earnings to those of people who did not go to college -- many of whom did not go because they were not clever enough to get in. Thus, some of the premium that graduates earn simply reflects the fact that they are, on average, more intelligent than non-graduates."

"[But f]or all their flaws, studies like PayScale’s help would-be students (and their parents) make more informed choices. As Americans start to realise how much a bad choice can hurt them, they will demand more transparency."

The Economist, April 5, 2014: “Is college worth it?”

Pew Research Centre, February 2014: “The Rising Cost of Not Going to College” (66 pages, PDF)

PayScale College Salary Report 2014

Visit the link below to view an interactive chart of the cost and return of a college education in America.

The Economist, April 3, 2014: “Valuing education”

"Americans believe in the importance of postsecondary education, with more than nine in 10 (94%) saying a postsecondary degree or credential is at least somewhat important and 70% saying it is very important, similar to last year’s findings. However, most also say higher-education institutions must evolve to better serve the needs of today’s students."

Gallup Politics, April 7, 2014: “The State of Education: Americans Say College Degree Leads to a Better Life,” by Valerie J. Calderon and Susan Sorenson

On the other hand, the situation for graduates in Canada is looking much brighter.

Or is it? (see UPDATE below)

"For the past couple of years, one of the things that both the Canadian right and left have agreed on is that the transmission belt from higher education to the labour market is broken. For the right, this has been expressed in terms of ‘skills gaps’... For the left, the discussion has turned on the theme of a ‘lost’ or ‘squeezed’ generation that is highly skilled but is having its transition to the labour market blocked by government austerity, temporary foreign workers, etc."

"Uniting these narratives was not just a belief that this state of affairs was a ‘new normal’ that required massive institutional change, but also a near-total reliance on anecdote rather than data. But on Friday [March 28, 2014], some data showed up. Very quietly, Statistics Canada released the first data from the new National Graduates’ Survey. To put it mildly, this new data blows both of those narratives out of the water."

The Globe and Mail, April 7, 2014: “Here’s proof graduates aren’t an underemployed ‘lost generation’,” by Alex Usher

Higher Education Strategy Associates, April 7, 2014: “Early Results from the National Graduates Survey: The Good News,” by Alex Usher

UPDATE: "[I]gnore anything you read about comparative-over-time graduate labour market outcomes from NGS from me or anyone else. Thanks to Statscan (and possibly ESDC), it's all worthless."

Higher Education Strategy Associates, April 9, 2014: “A *Tiny* Statscan Mistake on the National Graduates Survey (NGS),” by Mark

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The Long, Lonely Job of Homo academicus: How Professors Use Their Time

"In this piece, anthropologist John Ziker details the first stage of a study of faculty time allocation based on a self-monitoring survey instrument that uses time allocation reporting, a technique used by anthropologists in the field. The first phase of the study found that respondents -- all professors at Boise State -- spend a large amount of time in meetings and 30 percent of their time doing administrative tasks unrelated to teaching and research. Faculty work well over a 40-hour work week, including putting in time off campus and during the weekends.  And they spend a majority of time working alone."

The Blue Review, March 31, 2014: “The Long, Lonely Job of Homo academicus,” John Ziker

The Journal of Higher Education, July-August, 2000: “Faculty Time Allocation: A Study of Change over Twenty Years,” Jeffrey F. Milem, Joseph B. Berger and Eric L. Dey

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Non-Hiring and Dismissal of Senior Workers & Four Ways to Adapt to an Aging Workforce

"Recent studies have shown that while most employers value the experience and expertise of senior workers, many employers are unlikely to hire or retain them. It seems that cost considerations are central to their decision-making. Many employers believe that senior workers are more expensive than their younger counterparts."

"Advancing a proportionality analysis, the paper then outlines the limited circumstances in which cost considerations should be allowed. Finally, it advocates a process of procedural fairness prior to any decision to dismiss or not to hire senior workers due to cost considerations. While the paper focuses on Canadian law, its findings are of great importance to other jurisdictions."

SSNR, February 28, 2014: “Nonhiring and Dismissal of Senior Workers: Is It All About the Money?” by Pnina Alon-Shenker (also published in Comparative Labor Law&Policy Journal, Vol. 35, No. 2, 2014)

"Calls to maximize the utility of older workers -- by honoring experience, providing training opportunities, and offering flexible work and retirement options -- began to sound at least a decade ago. HBR contributors have suggested we ‘retire retirement’ and ‘adapt for an aging workforce.’”

"But proposing reform is one thing. Instituting it is another. Have companies followed through? Our analysis suggests that some are starting to. We’ve found four best practices for accommodating older workers that should serve as a model for other organizations:"

  1. Flexible, half-retirement. 
  2. Prioritizing older-worker skills in hiring and promotions. 
  3. Creating new positions or adapting old ones. 
  4. Changing workplace ergonomics.

"Companies that make these changes have seen tangible improvements in retention and productivity, organizational culture, and the bottom line."

You can learn more about how various organizations implemented these practices by reading the full article at the link below.

Harvard Business Review, April 8, 2014: “Four Ways to Adapt to an Aging Workforce,” by Michael North and Hal Hershfield

The Council for Adult & Experiential Learning, 2013: “Mapping Mature Talent: Policies for a 21st Century Workforce,” edited by Phyllis Snyder and Michael C. Barth (120 pages, PDF)

NTAR Leadership Center, March 2012: “Employer Strategies for Responding to an Aging Workforce,” by Francine M. Tishman, Sara Van Looy, and Susanne M. Bruyere (39 pages, PDF)

International Labour Organization, December 1, 2011: A changing world: Adapting to an ageing population in the workplace”

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The Secret Life of a Food Stamp

This is Part 1 (of 5) in the Marketplace series “The Secret Life of a Food Stamp.” You can listen to the series here.

About this series: “Food stamps turn 50 this year. Since the program was written in to law, it’s become one of those government programs that gets a lot of attention from politicians on both the left and the right -- especially recently. The program has been growing furiously in the last 15 years -- one in seven Americans is on food stamps today. That’s more than twice what the rate was in 2000. Some of that can be explained by changing eligibility requirements and job-losses during the recession. But the fastest growing group of food stamp participants in the last few decades are people who have jobs and work full year-round. And that suggests a deeper new reality. Even once the recession is fully behind us, could increased use of food stamps driven by low-wage jobs be a permanent fixture of the American economy?”

Slate, April 1, 2014: “The Secret Life of a Food Stamp,” by Krissy Clark

Marketplace -- The Secret Life of a Food Stamp series

"How hard is it to balance a family budget working a low-wage job? In this interactive, developed by the Wealth & Poverty Desk, you can see how difficult it is to make ends meet in a low-wage job.”

The Marketplace -- The Wage Wager

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Swedish City Embarks On 6-Hour Workday Experiment

"A section of employees of the municipality of Gothenburg will now work an hour less a day than the seven hours customary in the Scandinavian social democracy famed for its work-life balance."

"The measure is being self-consciously conceived of as an experiment, with a group of municipal employees working fewer hours and a control group working regular hours - all on the same pay. The groups’ performances will then be compared."

"It is hoped that the experiment will ultimately save money by making employees more productive in their working hours."

"The measure comes as a new labour agreement in France orders employees to avoid checking their professional emails and phones after work while employers are legally obliged to ensure workers come under no pressure to keep up-to-speed out of working hours."

“According to OECD data, there is a correlation between shorter working hours and greater productivity.”

The Telegraph, April 9, 2014: “Swedish city embarks on 6-hour workday experiment,” by Tanjil Rashid

OECD Factbook 2013:

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Skoll World Forum: A Deliberately Non-Economic Measure of Well-Being

"The Skoll World Forum begins today [April 8, 2014] in Oxford, bringing together the most prominent people in the area of social entrepreneurship. When they want to evaluate how well they’ve performed over the past year, many can turn to a new metric, the Social Progress Index (SPI). Established in 'beta' form last year, the latest version tracks 132 countries across 54 indicators. Importantly, the indicators do not look at inputs (like spending on education) but only outputs (like literacy). And they hew to social, health and environmental factors, not economic ones -- making it unique compared with other indices measuring well-being from the OECD, UN Development Programme and others.”

The Economist, Apr 8th 2014: “Progress on Progress: A deliberately non-economic measure of well-being.”

"Social entrepreneurs pave avenues of opportunity for those who would, otherwise, be locked into lives without hope. Learn more about social entrepreneurship and the Skoll World Forum, and hear why their innovations are the most promising solutions to global problems."

Skoll World Forum website

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Book of the Week

Handbook of Unethical Work Behavior: Implications for Individual Well-Being, edited by Robert A. Giacalone and Mark D. Promislo. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2013. 348 p. ISBN 9780765632562 (pbk.)

From publisher: "Unethical behavior in the workplace affects countless people every year. Workers in many organizations are subjected to insidious treatment such as harassment, discrimination, and bullying. However, most research and discussion of unethical business behavior has focused solely on its financial and legal effects and not on the health and well-being of the individuals working for the organization. This handbook has been crafted to address this gap. It covers the widest possible range of organizational misbehaviors (age, race, and gender discrimination, abuse, bullying, aggression, violence, fraud and corruption), all with an eye toward the effects on individual and organizational health and well-being."

Visit the Recent Books at the CIRHR Library blog.

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