OUR CHANGING LABOUR MARKET

– FROM STAPLES TO INDUSTRY TO SERVICES -- TO STAPLES?

The Future of Work Oct 22, 2014

OUTLINE Your Review Assignments News Our Changing Labour Market

Sectors Staples WALTOWN

Your review of a book or films Connect with the course:

1) What does it say about work and working conditions in general?2) Is it relevant to your own career choice?

If you are reviewing two movies, first describe each, then compare them. Eg. offer a few paragraphs on each film, then some paragraphs comparing and contrasting them.

There is no strict formula -- chose a logical approach. Make sense and use good grammar! 

Student Protests in Hong Kong A panel of 1,200 local leaders, many of them

wealthy, currently selects Hong Kong’s chief executive, who is then appointed by Beijing.

In an interview on Monday, the Chief Executive said fully open elections could not be allowed here because they would result in “a numbers game” that would force the government to skew “politics and policies” toward poor people.”

Chinese Academic says…democracy in Hong Kong has to be

limited in order to protect the interests of its capitalists.

universal suffrage would hurt the business community because “their slice of pie will be shared by others.”

Employment Patterns & Trends• Last class we looked at changes in the Canadian

Labour Force – and how the supply of labour changed…• due to demographic trends• due to immigration policies

• Now we’ll look at changes in the Labour Market – and how the demand for labour is changing…• Particularly the growth of the Service Sector…•

Classifying Work and WorkersBy SECTOR (major part of the economy)

1) PRIMARY - Resource extraction Eg. Agriculture, Mining, Forestry…

2) SECONDARY - Producing goods from the raw materials

Eg. Manufacturing, Construction…

3) TERTIARY OR SERVICE SECTOR- Provides services – (as commodities for sale)

Eg. Finance, Retail, Government, Health, Education, Cleaning, Restaurants and Hotels, Advertizing, Media, etc

Notice how each sector contains many industries…Industry =  a group of businesses that provide a particular product or service

From farms to factories

to services...

1891 Half of Canadians

workers were in the Primary Sector - farming, fishing, forestry and mining

Secondary – 20% Services - 31%

200877% in Services 20% Secondary 4% Primary (2% farming)

Industry Sectorsby percentage of the workforce

1891 2013

Employment trends in your lifetimes… between 1981 and 2006

Jobs in agriculture declined from 437,600 to 346,400 workersJobs in other primary sectors (forestry, fishing, mining, oil and gas) declined from 349,400 to 330,100 workers.Professional services employment nearly tripled -- from 410,000 to 1,122,000 Business services employment nearly tripled -- from 233,500 to 748,900

Canadian Industry Statistics Sectors of the Canadian economy Search for statistical data by Industry Most recent…

See pages 8, 10, 28, 58

The Service Sector

How large is it? Why did it grow? What are the implications?

Why the growth in services?1. Productivity increases in manufacturing and resource

industries = fewer workers needed- eg. Farm combines- eg. Factory robotics

2. Higher incomes lead in increased demand for services - eg. recreation, restaurants, etc

3. State provides more services - eg. education and health care, etc

The Service SectorUPPER TIER – 54% of jobs in this sector – the good jobsDISTRIBUTIVE SERVICES

Transport, communication, wholesaleBUSINESS SERVICES

Finance, insurance, real estate, etcEDUCATION, HEALTH AND WELFAREPUBLIC ADMINISTRATION______________________________LOWER TIER – 23% of jobs in this sector – not so goodRETAIL OTHER CONSUMER SERVICES

Food services, accommodations,

Will there be good jobs in the service sector of tomorrow?

Eg. In education and health care… It depends… Business pressured for reduced government

spending in the 90’s – “deficit reduction” was the excuse(after tax cuts had reduced revenues!!!)

Now once again they are calling for “austerity” (spending cuts) because of:

1) more corporate tax cuts2) a recession (of their own making!)

Comparing countries… Germany and Japan have more workers in

manufacturing (and fewer in services) United States has the same size service

sector but with more in retail Mexico has fewer in services, and more

working in primary sector (farming)

Comparing genders More men produce goods (good jobs!)

35% of men, 11% of women More women in services

Upper tier – 62% of women, 47% of men Lower tier – 27% of women, 19% of men

Comparing ages Younger workers in lower tier services

Eg. Retail and consumer services – malls, fast food, tourism

Categorizing workers and their jobs National Occupational Classification system

Occupation = the actual work or tasks done Organizes over 25,000 occupations according to:

4 skill levels depending on education / training required 9 skill types depend on task performed

Explore Careers by Occupation

Different ways of categorizing workers…

By industry sector – eg. Construction By occupation – eg. Carpenter By class (as defined by their relationship to

the means of production – or by their status) Eg. Worker or Capitalist

By the colour of their collar?

Categorizing workers and their jobs… Blue collar workers – mostly in

primary & secondary industries – “dirty” jobs

White collar workers – mostly in secondary industries – “cleaner” jobs

Pink collar workers – in lower tier service sector where many women work eg. retail, fast food, cleaning

Self-Employment Formerly many farmers… 2008 – 2.6 million or 15.4% 1/10 are “own-account self-employed” Increases with age and education Recessions increase self-employment –

Laid off? Become a consultant… Nearly 80% earn less than $20,000/yr

Staples Theory of Economic Growth Staples = raw materials, resources Canadian economic development has depended on

developing a succession of staples products Fish, fur, timber, wheat, minerals, oil…

This left us very dependent on foreign investment and foreign markets = vulnerable Many single-industry towns are vulnerable if the market

collapses or the resource runs out Manufacturing was under-developed – we were just

“hewers of wood and drawers of water”- with many working in low skill primary or services jobs.

Canada was caught in a “staples trap” without enough “high value” jobs Without enough innovation

Dutch Disease

The economy of the Netherlands boomed in the 1960’s when they discovered natural gas in the North Sea.

It attracted foreign investment, which raised the value of their currency.

Their manufactured products then cost too much – and exports fell.

Australia – same story…Price of their exports goes up Value of their currency goes up

Volume of trade goes down

Our dependence on the export of staple products…

Southern Ontario – industry suffers from the Dutch Disease…oil attracts investment, then manufacturing suffers

Resource hinterlands – a history of boom and bust… Maritimes Northern Ontario West North

For next class…on Nov 5 THE JOBS CRISIS:GOOD JOBS, BAD JOBS, NO JOBS

The trends towards precarious work Job quality - Why there are not enough good jobs? Austerity - Why there are so many unemployed? Unemployment insurance and welfare

Read: Krahn, Lowe and Hughes, Work, Industry and Canadian Society, 7th, Ch 4 – pp 93-126.

PLUS more from Moodle…