Precarious employment, also known as precarious work, is a type of employment that is unstable, doesn't provide job security, may have high risk working conditions, often does not provide much in the way of benefits nor the option for workers to join a union, and typically provides low wages that usually are, on their own, insufficient to support a basic household. Precarious employment can include part-time, temporary, self-employment and contract work categories. In recent years during tougher economic conditions, this type of employment has become more and more common in some of Canada’s most populated major cities, such as Toronto and Hamilton, and it continues to be on the increase. Employers are taking advantage of this less expensive …show more content…
This article stated that, according to a study conducted by the United Way and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), approximately 40% of young workers in Ontario are in jobs classified as part-time, temporary or self-employed. The same study also found that less than half of part-time/temporary workers were able to transition into full-time higher-wage work and, perhaps most importantly, the percentage of those able to transition will likely decline over the next decade. Clearly, the growth of part-time and temporary jobs has been growing on an upward trend over the past decade and appears to have become part of business as usual. A study conducted in 2015 by the United Way and the Law Commission of Ontario (LCO) states that approximately 22% of part-time/temporary work in the past year can be characterized as precarious work, i.e. work with poor or no benefits and job security. The growth in precarious employment is due to many factors including Globalization, improved technology, changes to business models, and the economic shift from manufacturing to the service sector. These shifts have essentially formed a new economy that has a high demand for fluidity and flexibility in the common workplace, and has low a demand for the old fashioned “Standard” model of the workplace (largely full-time employees with a full suite of …show more content…
Some of the benefits that were discussed at the event by people in precarious roles included: having flexible work schedules allowing time to pursue personal and professional interests outside of work, and building up a resume of experience, knowledge and skills from multiple employers to help obtain future potential fulltime jobs. Balfour, throughout his many years of recruiting experience, noted the advantages of hiring temporary workers as opposed to fulltime workers for employers, but he also believed that part-time/temporary/contract work provided benefits to the employees as well, and this event really helped prove what he had thought before. Balfour stated that it is “ a win-win scenario for everyone, including the
In a study, Li writes, “Healthcare team performance may be hindered due to the different cultural backgrounds of the nurses” (2014, p. 316). A report mentions that the IENs have less confidence in providing culturally competent care to the patients of the different culture due to lack of understanding of health beliefs, values and behaviors of that culture (Lampley, 2008). For instance, in Philippines, most of the decisions are made by the doctors. Nurses just follow doctors’ order in decision making (Tregunno, et al., 2009). But in Canada nurses are required to be more assertive and actively involved in decision-making and have more responsibility and accountability regarding patient care. Further, Canada is a multicultural country and
...r monetary or resource value to get the basic needs of the family met. Jobs are falling. Klotz points out those jobs are hard to come by for many people, especially the younger generation she talks about, being the 20-24 age groups (Klotz 3). Asher Miller, executive director of the Post Carbon Institute writes in his forward, “an estimated 16.5 percent of the population is officially classified as “underemployed,” the highest level since the 1930s” (Heinberg and Lerch xiv). There is no way to provide for a family; shelter, food, water, clothes, education and healthcare without a job unless you rely on the government for full support. Even that is limited in what it provides. Lack of jobs is a negative indicator of progress and growth. Even worse is the tragic combination of no jobs and dwindling resources to provide jobs, food, and energy for all of the nations.
Over the past decades, casual employment in Australia has become a phenomenon of great concern. With the soaring numbers of casual employment, the debates about the benefits and drawbacks of causal employment have become fiercer. Casualization is a very important form of employment in Australia, which has been protected by workplace law. The majority of casual labor force constantly contact with their potential employers to apply job and confirm the arrangement of working time from month to month, or even week to week. In term of wages, causal workers cannot get paid for the annual holiday leave. However, they can receive more paid than the full-time workers for the same working hours. In this essay, how casual employment is defined in Australia and casual employment trend in recent years will be introduced. This article will critically discuss the benefits and harms for both employees and employers in terms of growing casual employment in Australia.
Changes in the social, economic and political structure have resulted in “high-life stress” has increased from 27% in 1988 to 46% in 1998 according to a study from C.B.C (Bezanson & Luxton, 2006, p. 95). According to the Canadian Union of Public Employees it has been discovered that 4 out of 10 employees reported that their workload incresed from the years 1999 to 2001 the evidence presented that 72 per cent reported more work responsibility, 61 per cent reported working with new technology, 60 per cent reported a higher demand for service, and 54 per cent were working in departments that have had employment reductions (Bezanson & Luxton, 2006, p. 99). In 2001, the average age of workers in Canada is 37.6 years of age, this age has increased from 29.6 years of age in 1981 (Bezanson & Luxton, 2006, p.98). Due to the increase of age workers have encountered probl...
Racial discrimination in the workplace has been a persistent theme in Canada’s history as well as present-day times. The occurrence of actions and attitudes that impose a sense of one being less equal than another on the basis of one’s race in Canada’s workplace inhibits both our nation’s ability to move forward as well as strengthen unification within our country. The belief in a more egalitarian society, where one’s race and ethnic background have little to no impact on employees (or potential employees) standings within the job market, would seemingly be reinforced by the majority of Canadians, who consistently show support for Canada’s multicultural identity. Couple that with the noticeable strides Canada has made in the past several decades through legislation, in order to eliminate discriminatory practices and actions within the workplace, and one would likely assume that racial discrimination within the workplace is largely a concern of the past. However, current research supports the argument that the level of which racial discrimination occurs today is increasing, and as such it persists to be a key problem in the current workplace of the nation. In the workplace, racial discrimination is often seen with regard to uneven access to jobs, unfair selection and promotion criteria (as well as access to the means in order to meet this criteria), and workplace harassment. This paper compares similar findings of two articles; the first, Racial inequality in employment in Canada, as was published in the Canadian Public Administration (CPA), and the second, What Are Immigrants’ Experiences of Discrimination in the Workplace?, published by the Toronto Immigrant Employment Data Initiative (TIEDI).
An issue for Canadian labour relations, specifically unions, is the government’s intention to move away from the Rand formula of union dues collection. In 1946, Justice Ivan Rand introduced a dues scheme that ended the 1945 Ford motors strike in Windsor, Ontario. The “Rand Formula” or better known as automatic check off made it binding, in a unionized workplace, that all employees regardless of union affiliation pay union dues. This essentially made the union accountable to all workers in the bargaining unit and equal representation must be provided to all. Justice Rand stated in his decision,
High workloads, high stress and low wages are the norm, (Greenhouse, 2008) which translates into a lack of work/life balance. Consequently, the largest job growth sector in America is the low wage retail and food service sector. (Draut, 2005) Chain stores are everywhere, making jobs at places like Starbucks and Best Buy plentiful. Unfortunately, these types of jobs pay little above minimum wage. This puts the debt-strapped college grad in the impossible situation of having an income, but not earning enough to cover the basics. Further still, working in food service and retail guarantees an unpredictable schedule. Some retailers will post work schedules only a few days to a week in advance, (Draut, 2005) while others will call their employees at the last minute to fill shifts, thus making it difficult to plan or have a social life. And considering that many college grads work in these industries, it is understandable how this kind of work-stress coupled with financial stress is a recipe for disaster. In addition, employees often risk losing their jobs when they need to miss work to care for sick children. (Greenhouse,
Work is more than just a way of earning money to pay the bills; it is also a key feature of our culture and provides people with purpose and dignity. Many people define themselves by what they do. Thus, determining the future prospects for the job market in Canada is very important (Watson 2008). For the most part, Canada’s economy has done relatively well during the recent economic crisis, especially when compared to some other nations. However, the economic and technological trends that have driven changes in the workforce in recent years are likely to continue for the near future. These shifting trends will affect Canadian society and its workers in a number of areas, and it is vital that steps be taken to deal with any problems that result.
unemployment. I feel that if we put the burden on the people of Ontario to be
The gap in wealth between the rich and the poor continues to grow larger, as productivity increases but wages remain the same. There were changes in the tax structure that gave the wealthy tax breaks, such as only taxing for social security within the first $113,700 of income in a year. For CEOs this tax was paid off almost immediately. Free trade treaties broke barriers to trade and resulted in outsourcing and lower wages for workers. In “Job on the Line” by William Adler, a worker named Mollie James lost her job when the factory moved to Mexico. “The job in which Mollie James once took great pride, the job that both fostered and repaid her loyalty by enabling her to rise above humble beginnings and provide for her family – that job does not now pay Balbina Duque a wage sufficient to live on” (489). When Balbina started working she was only making 65 cents an hour. Another huge issue lies in the minimum wage. In 2007, the minimum wage was only 51% of the living wage in America. How can a person live 51% of a life? Especially when cuts were being made in anti-poverty and welfare programs that were intended to get people on their feet. Now, it seems that the system keeps people down, as they try to earn more but their benefits are taken away faster than they can earn. Even when workers tried to get together to help themselves they were thrown
...t it is much more fluid now. Workers have to be able to adapt. They are no longer stuck in one job for life. Workers will find themselves in multiple jobs and working with many people they would never have come across before. The career isn’t going anywhere it’s just changed, and there is nothing to worry about.
...t have a job previously, creating a surplus of people needing a job. Meaning that the employers are willing to decrease demand, and make less people do more work.
The structural-functional analysis of jobs in the U.S. is governed by the workforce stratification and technology. The more educated and diverse a society is the better society’s job market is served. This social economic separation of class has been both good and bad for society. Many workers at the lower levels of employment are both pleased and displeased with many aspects of work. Though this fact also holds true with most any job at any level, pay scale often compensates for endurance of a particular job type. The security of a person’s job also is an issue that in today’s economic times forces one to be prepared for change. This is to say that even if one’s field of expertise is needed today it may not be tomorrow. This type of ever-changing job market leads many to believe that another socio-economic change may occur at any time. This change was apparent with the transition into the industrial age and again in the information age. These concerns caused stress, various health issues, a...
Recently there has been a shift of long lasting and full-time employment in large and basic manufacturing enterprises to nonstandard and short time work in the firms and service sector. Technological changes have fostered much of this transition because most enterprises adopt such advances in technology so as to get a competitive advantage in the market. The effects of technological are somehow highly beneficial to workers, but it also brings job dislocation and trauma in other settings of organizations. The relations of labor occur inevitably at crossroads of all social and economic pressure for example privatization and deregulation of some industries (Bosworth, 2013).
From the macro level, economies recovering from a recession, for instance, are more likely to be boosted by the relatively affordable and market demand determined employment temporary workers, it is argued. Others have argued that a recovery fueld by temporary employment does not make much difference on the macroecomic performance because contingent employees are generally paid less and, therefore, spend less to be able to have a significant stimulus impact towards recovery of the economy. From the organizational or employer point of view mainly considerarations of cost and flexibility take precedence. Temporary employment is often considered from its strategic advantage point of view. Among other things, organization can adjust and deploy their labour force “flexibly”, depending on market demand. From a cost saving point of view they can lower employment cost such as insurance and pension fund contribution. Disadvantage of temporary employment is knowledge sharing as temps withhold knowledge from their permanent colleagues to remain useful or as the organization withholds knowledge for fear of knowledge leaving the organization with the temporary employee. From the point of view of the employee the debate ranges from ethical consideration to dangerous working conditions. Some studies have documented that temporarary employees earn