[Bruce_the_vii]

Long term job growth is not low wage service industries.

Well not exactly. People think the only jobs around are these low wage service industry jobs. I bought the Statistics Canada data and found out a couple of things.

Low wage employment is not going up disproportionately in Canada although it is large. Some 23% of workers earn $12 an hour or less.

Growth is not in small businesses disproportionatly. Businesses with 50 to 500 employees are growing as are businesses with over 500 employees. The big businesses are not downsizing. Big businesses tend to have deeper pockets and pay better.

Statistics Canada has detailed information on employment by industry. In the 1991-2008 expansion there were booms. Gas and oil, housing construction and manufacturing driven by a low dollar had booms and are now bust. You have boom and bust sectors.

Going forward Canada can continue to grow without going backward. It’d be better if we could downsize the less than $12 sector though.

[Public_Domain]

[ASLplease]

no one, anywhere, owes you a living. You want to make money? learn to make money for others. its that simple.

[martin14]

ASLplease ASLplease:

no one, anywhere, owes you a living. You want to make money? learn to make money for others. its that simple.

better yet, learn how to get others to make money for you.

[Bruce_the_vii]

ASLplease ASLplease:

no one, anywhere, owes you a living. You want to make money? learn to make money for others. its that simple.

I figured you out, you're a "people need to work hard" grouch. It's true and it is part of Canadian values but it's not, like, going to carry the day.

[martin14]

Bruce_the_vii Bruce_the_vii:

ASLplease ASLplease:

no one, anywhere, owes you a living. You want to make money? learn to make money for others. its that simple.

I figured you out, you're a "people need to work hard" grouch. It's true and it is part of Canadian values but it's not, like, going to carry the day.

Ur right, it's far easier to just sit on your ass until the
government comes along and gives you something that you will neither
value, nor use to better yourself.


Nothing wrong with an honest days work Bruce, maybe you should try it sometime.

[Bruce_the_vii]

Great philosophy there Martin, the indolent are wrecking the system.

[Proculation]

who thinks the future is in low wage services ?

I have always been told to study a lot to get a good paying job. Low wage jobs are for people who quit school.

[Bruce_the_vii]

Proculation Proculation:

who thinks the future is in low wage services ?

I have always been told to study a lot to get a good paying job. Low wage jobs are for people who quit school.

There's a McLabour problem in Canada and lots of people wonder about it. You know back in the 1960's early 1970's you could get a good job in a matter of a few weeks. Now it's very illusive.

I went to school myself, it's not like I don't think you should do that.

[Thanos]

It's almost impossible to help people who treat high school like it's some sort of clown show, or refuse to get serious and realize that some minimal post-secondary is vital to getting a good career started.

Society offers the opportunities for advancement to practically everyone. At a certain point (I'd say by high school graduation time) it's up to the individual to step up to the plate and make something of themselves. If they're 25 or 30, keep getting stoned every night, and are still working at McDonalds, then too bad for them if they're being left behind. Don't blame the rest of us for their deliberate decision to become video-game addicted couch potato potheads that've permanently nested in their parent's basements.

[Bruce_the_vii]

Well, educating the masses won't actually change the type and quality of jobs out there. So, someone is going to wind up working at low wages. Typically it's women, immigrants, and people that were poor at school.

I've trained three times and am working as an auto parts courier. Lots of people train and never use their education these days.

[Thanos]

Depends on the type of training and how relevant it is to the job market, though. If you take law, medicine, computers, or engineering then those student loans aren't all that scary because, with patience and time, those good jobs will find you. If you drifted through five years of totally irrelevant bullshit like "gay/transgendered studies", political science, or (ugh) psychology then you've probably got a really big problem on your hands. Some foresight and planning is required of the individual so that they can ensure that they don't turn into another example of overeducated but essentialy unemployable. That's where the education system really fails people, it makes the so-called prestige of graduating from university (no matter how existentially stupid their degree is in reality) the end-all-and-be-all of everything when most people are better suited for trade school or earning useful diplomas from community colleges.

[Brenda]

Funny thing is though, that as far as immigration is concerned, you can apply for permanent residency when you have a psychology degree, but not when you are a mechanic.

[QBC]

Brenda Brenda:

Funny thing is though, that as far as immigration is concerned, you can apply for permanent residency when you have a psychology degree, but not when you are a mechanic.

That's cause there are way more people around with broken heads then there are with broken cars.... it's true.....

[andyt]

Thanos Thanos:

At a certain point (I'd say by high school graduation time) it's up to the individual to step up to the plate and make something of themselves. If they're 25 or 30, keep getting stoned every night, and are still working at McDonalds, then too bad for them if they're being left behind. Don't blame the rest of us for their deliberate decision to become video-game addicted couch potato potheads that've permanently nested in their parent's basements.

It still amazes me (tho of course it shouldn't) how easily people dismiss 1/4 of the working population with incredibly trite cliches. Most low skill/service jobs are not at McDonalds, most people doing them are adults, many with families. Those jobs need doing - many are ultimately more valuable to society than jobs people get paid good bucks for. If they are putting in an honest day's work, they should be paid to a level that lifts them out of poverty.

$12 in parts of Canada will do that in some parts of Canada, but not in Vancouver for instance. (My guess is not in other large cities either, but that's where those service jobs are). Unless the state were to step in with tax policy (raise the personal exemption so people below $12 don't pay taxes) health (add dentistry to MSP, free prescription drugs for low income, no msp fees, etc) education (make education affordable again, including skilled trades training).

But, neocon ideals seem to pave permeated society of fuck thy neighbor. And the tensions increase in society right along with it: lack of cohesiveness, community. "Fuck it , we'll just import more slave laborers, it's good for the bottom line." Not in the long run it aint. Me, I'd rather have a caring community. I would be willing to pay a bit more in taxes, and a bit more for the services I receive to make that happen. Being able to buy more cheap crap from China doesn't really satisfy in the long term, tho I guess unpacking that 4th TV is a bit of a rush in the moment.