September 20, 2011
- Sacrificing Their Lives to Work
- Unions and Wage Inequality
- Work and Climate Change Report
- Youth Unemployment and New Labour Market Entrants
- Youth Labour Market in Canada
- The Globalized Labour Market: high unemployment for the losers and soaring pay for the “talent”
- Women in Canada
- Justice for Women, a UN Report
- Lights, Cameras and No Action for Women Working in TV and Film
- Sponsors, Women and Success
- Where to Apply
- University Student’s Employment and Labour Market Experience in summer 2011
- Generation X and Y men are doing more housework
- Canada’s Demographic Pulse
- Book of the Week
Sacrificing Their Lives to Work
“When it was established in the late nineteenth century, Labor Day was intended to honor the American working man. Yet a great deal of our menial labor today is performed not by American citizens but by undocumented migrant workers—many of whom risk their lives in thousand-mile journeys simply to get to the United States. A year ago this August, 72 of those migrants—58 men and 14 women—were on their way to the US border when they were murdered by a drug gang at a ranch in northern Mexico, in circumstances that remain unexplained. Since then, a group of Mexican journalists and writers have created a website, 72migrantes.com, to commemorate each of the victims, some of whom have never been identified. What follows is a selection of English translations of their work. —The Editors”
NYR Blog: roving thoughts and provocations from our writers (New York Review of Books), September 5, 2011: Sacrificing Their Lives to Work
Unions and Wage Inequality
“A 2011 study by the University of Washington and Harvard University published in the American Sociological Review, “Unions, Norms, and the Rise in American Wage Inequality” measures the impact broadly of declining union membership on wage inequality. The study’s findings include:
- Over the period 1973 to 2007, membership in private sector unions declined from 34% to 8% for men and from 16% to 6% for women. Inequality in hourly wages increased by more than 40% over that period.
- The decline of organized labor since 1973 explains one third of the increase in wage inequality among men and one fifth of the increased inequality among women, which is “an effect comparable to the growing stratification of wages by education.”
- Put more concretely, “the decline of the American labor movement has added as much to men’s wage inequality as the relative increase in pay for college graduates.”
Journalist’s Resource: Knowledge Based Reporting, August 2011: Unions, Norms, and the Rise in American Wage Inequality
“Unions, Norms, and the Rise in American Wage Inequality” by Bruce Western, Harvard University and Jake Rosenfeld, University of Washington, Seattle, March 2011 (PDF 48 pages, PDF)
Work and Climate Change Report
Elizabeth Perry is now the editor of the Work and Climate Change Report (WCR), a monthly online publication for academics, practitioners and students concerning research and legislation from Canada and around the world. WCR is published by the Work in a Warming World Research Unit, York University. Elizabeth Perry was the editor of the Perry Work Report until her retirement as Head Librarian at the Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources in 2006.
Work and Climate Change Report, September 2011: Monthly updates on research and new developments in green transition
For questions, comments, or if you wish to subscribe to the WCR monthly report, please e-mail:w3info@yorku.ca
Youth Unemployment and New Labour Market Entrants
“So the focus on youth unemployment is certainly warranted, but the rhetoric needs to be extended on several fronts. First, we need to recognize that the underlying variable that high youth unemployment is truly measuring is the difficulty any new labour market entrant is facing in finding a job. Second, that the cause of this latest uptick in youth unemployment has its origins in a set of macro-economic problems and is not a function of micro-economic tweaks to training programs for the young, tax credits for employers or better job-matching efforts. Third, we need to be thinking about a bold new growth agenda that reverses our macro-economic malaise, an agenda that takes advantage of historically low public borrowing rates to build on long-term investments and is environmentally sustainable and tailored to Ontario’s older, more urbanized society.”
Globe and Mail, September 13, 2011: Ontario’s youth unemployment: We must step up the economic growth agenda by Rafael Gomez
Rafael Gomez is an associate professor in employment relations at the Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources at the University of Toronto.
Youth Labour Market in Canada
Visit the Youth and Work website by Andrew Langille for reports on youth, workplace law, economics, labour market policy and intergenerational equity. In a recent blog post Andrew interviews “Sylvain Schetagne, an economist with the Canadian Labour Congress, about a number of issues such as: the deteriorating employment prospects for young people, structural labour market problems, the approach governments in Canada are taking towards public policy and the changes that have taken place within the economy.”
Youth and Work: A website about youth, workplace law, economics, labour market policy and intergenerational equity, September 19, 2011: What's behind the deterioration of the youth labour market in Canada?
The Globalized Labour Market: high unemployment for the losers and soaring pay for the “talent”
“Yet even as many people face a job famine, a minority is benefiting from an intensifying war for talent. That minority is well placed to demand interesting and fulfilling work and set its own terms and conditions. But above all the pay of such people—from executives to investment bankers and software engineers in Silicon Valley—is soaring.”
“The movement of work abroad in search of lower labour costs is no longer confined to manufacturing but now also includes white-collar jobs, from computer programming to copywriting and back-office legal tasks. That is likely to have a big impact on pay rates everywhere.”
The Economist, September 10, 2011: Special report: The future of jobs: The great mismatch: In the new world of work, unemployment is high yet skilled and talented people are in short supply. Matthew Bishop explains
The Economist, September 10, 2011: Unemployment in the West: The quest for jobs: It is not impossible for politicians to reduce the West’s frighteningly high unemployment levels
The Economist, September 10, 2011: Labour-market trends Winners and losers Divisions are getting deeper
The Economist, September 10, 2011: The role of government: Lending a hand: Policymakers can help create jobs, up to a point
The Economist, September 10, 2011: A better balance: More feast, less famine: The new world of work needs to be fair as well as efficient
Women in Canada
This is the sixth edition of Women in Canada – representing the 25th anniversary of this publication. “It is intended to aid the continuing discussion and evaluation of the changing roles and social characteristics of Canadian women as well as contribute to the development of policies concerning the status of women in Canada.”
Women in Canada: A Gender-based Statistical Report, explores the socio-demographic and economic circumstances of Canadian women. The report looks at women in paid and unpaid work as well as their income and earnings. The report found that although “women have become an integral part of the paid labour force…gender gaps persist on most major socio-economic variables.”
Statistics Canada, July 26, 2011: “Women in Canada: A Gender-based Statistical Report,” Chronological index for accessing PDF’s or HTML
Statistics Canada, July 26, 2011: Women in Canada: A Gender-based Statistical Report – summary page (HTML Format – access the report contents via the sidebar)
Justice for Women, a UN Report
The United Nations report “Progress of the World’s Women: In Pursuit of Justice” writes that “although equality between women and men is guaranteed in the constitutions of 139 countries and territories, inadequate laws and loopholes in legislative frameworks, poor enforcement and vast implementation gaps make these guarantees hollow promises, having little impact on the day-to-day lives of women.”
Globe and Mail, July 6, 2011: “The gap between promising women equality and delivering it is shrinking – but oh so slowly”, by Michelle Bachelet
UN Women: Progress of the World’s Women: organization website
United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, 2011: Progress of the World’s Women: In Pursuit of Justice, report (168 pages, PDF)
Lights, Cameras and No Action for Women Working in TV and Film
Every year the Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film releases a study on the status ofWomen in Television and Film. This year’s report found that the number of women working behind the scenes on domestic (United States) grossing films and on broadcast television is in decline. A Globe and Mail article suggests that the study’s findings bring up a “toxic issue” as “women viewers are coveted by broadcasters and advertisers and vast amounts of money are spent on creating shows to reach these viewers, and yet the number of women involved seems to be diminishing.”
Centre for the Study of Women in Television and Film, 2011: “The Celluloid Ceiling: Behind-the-Scenes Employment of Women on the Top 250 Films of 2010”, by Martha M. Lauzen (2 pages, PDF)
Centre for the Study of Women in Television and Film, 2011: “Boxed In: Employment of Behind-the-scenes and On-Screen Women in the 2010-2011 Prime-time Television Season”, by Martha M. Lauzen (pages 3, PDF)
Center for the Study of Women in Television & Film: “Research”, homepage
The Globe and Mail, August 24, 2011: “Forget female empowerment, How about female employment?” by John Doyle
Sponsors, Women and Success
“Many people confuse sponsorship with mentoring. While a mentor may be a sponsor, sponsors go beyond the traditional social, emotional, and personal growth development provided by many mentors. Sponsorship is focused on advancement and predicated on power. A recent Harvard Business Review article describes sponsorship as active support by someone appropriately placed in the organization who has significant influence on decision-making processes or structures and who is advocating for, protecting, and fighting for the career advancement of an individual.”
Catalyst, August 2011: Sponsoring Women to Success (28 pages, PDF)
Catalyst, August 2011: Sponsoring Women to Success summary
Where to Apply
Canada’s Top 100 Employers has released the list of Canadian employers that lead as “exceptional workplaces for their employees.” Canada’s Top Employers for Young People provides a shortlist of employers “that offer the nation’s best benefits for younger workers.”
Canada’s Top 100 Employers 2011: Canada’s Top Employers for Young People list
Canada’s Top 100 Employers 2011: Canada’s Top 100 Employers list
The Globe and Mail, September 19, 2011: “Canada’s top employers for young people”
Canadian Newswire, September 19, 2011: “Preparing for Tomorrow’s Demographics Today: Canada’s Top Employers for Young People are Announced for 2011”, news release
University Student’s Employment and Labour Market Experience in summer 2011
The Higher Education Strategy Associates’ (HESA) Canadian Education Project has released its annual survey of Canadian university students’ summer employment activities. The report found that “to a significant degree, this summer’s labour market is a two-speed one: red-hot for certain technical and scientific disciplines, and distinctly tepid for everyone else. As a result, much of this paper is focused on the issue of students’ field of study and how that affects summer labour market returns.”
The New York Times article “The Master’s as the New Bachelor’s” discusses the growing interest in and offerings of post-graduate degrees in science, technology, engineering and math and notes an effort by all academic fields “to better match higher education to labor needs.”
Canadian Education Project: organization website where you can download the paper “Nice Work (If You Can Get It): University Student Employment and Labour Market Experience in Summer 2011,” by Edyta Kaznowska and Alex Usher, (20 pages, PDF)
The New York Times, July 22, 2011: “The Master’s as the New Bachelor’s”, by Laura Pappano
Generation X and Y men are doing more housework
“Generational change in paid and unpaid work” shows that “progressively, from late baby boomers to those in Generation Y, there has been an increasing similarity in young men’s and women’s involvement in paid work and housework. However, despite the narrowing of the differences, compared with women, men continue to have an overall greater involvement in paid work and a lesser involvement in housework.”
Statistics Canada, July 12, 2011: “Generational change in paid and unpaid work,” by Katherine Marshall (14 pages, PDF)
Canada’s Demographic Pulse
The Report on the Demographic Situation in Canada is Statistics Canada's analysis of the components affecting the nation's population and is now available as an Internet-only publication. For information on the projected trends in the Canadian labour force, The Daily published a study of trends to 2031.
CBC’s “Shift: Stories Behind the Stats is a program featuring the best of The Current's year-long project examining demographic trends -- we look at where the numbers count...what they mean to the economy, to society, to each of us.”
Statistics Canada, July 2011: The Report on the Demographic Situation in Canada, website
Statistic Canada, The Daily, August 17, 2011: Projected trends to 2031 for the Canadian labour force
CBC: Shift: Stories behind the Stats, podcasts
Book of the Week
Canadian Labour in Crisis: Reinventing the Workers' Movement, by David Camfield. Halifax : Fernwood Pub., 2011. 160 p. ISBN 9781552664162 (paperback)
Does Canada have a working-class movement? Though many of us think of ourselves as middle class, most of us are, in fact, working class: we work for a wage. And though many of us are members of unions — the most significant organizations of the working-class movement in Canada — most people do not understand themselves to be part of this movement. Canadian Labour in Crisis asks why this is so. Through an analysis of the contemporary Canadian working-class movement and its historical development, David Camfield offers an explanation for its current state and argues that reform within the movement is not enough. From the structure of organizations to their activities and even the guiding ideology, Camfield contends that the movement needs a radical reinvention — and offers us a new way forward in reaching this goal.
About the Author: David Camfield is an associate professor in labour studies at the University of Manitoba.
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