Precarious employment is work that is not secure, generally does not include any type of benefits, and is paid so lowly that it generally does not meet the living wage. This type of employment is unfortunately a growing trend in today’s societies due to many factors such as outsourcing, globalization, a saturated job market, shifts from manufacturing to the service sector and jobs also being replaced by computerized units. When speaking on precariousness these trends also affect European societies due to the fact that the outsourcing is generally to places where labour is extremely cheap in order to lower the costs of goods such as Asia and South America. This growing trend is also resulting in negative effects on the economy such as the bottoming out of the middle class and a large amount of citizens living below the poverty line and not able to earn a livable wage. Minimum Wage is on the incline, however, it is still not enough to live on practically and there are many other factors that make precarious work disadvantageous other than the wages such as job security and room for growth and promotion within the company. The negative changes to the job market brought on by the changes to it have resulted in higher expectations and demands from the employers which reduce the amount of people which are eligible for what are now known as “good jobs”. These good jobs generally entail a livable wage, benefits, more flexibility and better job security. Precarious work is categorized and gendered as women and immigrants make up the vast majority of employees in this type of work. Since precarious work affects citizens on a global scale, in this essay, there will be comparisons and contrasts drawn between precarious work in Canada ...
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Canadian workplaces today seem to be a fairly diverse place, with a blend of many religions, ethnicities, and genders present. However, although people preach affirmative action and melting pots in current times, many inequality and power issues still abound. One strikingly noticeable example is gender discrimination. Women in the workforce face many challenges like smaller wages, harassment, male privilege in hiring or promotions, and lack of support when pregnant or raising children. One half of the planet is women, and it can be assumed the same for Canada, but they still face judgment at work because they lack the authority to dispute against big corporations or even their male supervisor. It cannot be argued that Canadian women’s status has worsened over the past hundred years, of course, thanks to feminism and activism. However, their status is not as high as it could be. Women as a group first started fighting for workplace equality during the second wave of feminism, from the 1960s to the 1990s. Legislation was approved during the second wave to try to bring gender equality to the workplace. Feminists both collided and collaborated with unions and employers to ensure women received fair treatment in an occupation. Quebec had the same issues, only the province approached the conflict differently than English Canada with its own unique viewpoint. It became clear that women were entering the workplace and did not plan on leaving. Second-wave feminism in Canada shifted power from the government and businesses to women in order to try to bring equality, although the discrimination never completely disappeared.
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Systemic discrimination has been a part of Canada’s past. Women, racial and ethnic minorities as well as First Nations people have all faced discrimination in Canada. Policies such as, Charter of Rights and Freedoms, provincial and federal Human Rights Codes, as well has various employment equity programs have been placed in Canada’s constitution to fight and address discrimination issues. Despite these key documents placed for universal rights and freedoms Aboriginal and other minority populations in Canada continue to be discriminated against. Many believe there is no discrimination in Canada, and suggest any lack of success of these groups is a result of personal decisions and not systemic discrimination. While others feel that the legislation and equality policies have yet resulted in an equal society for all minorities. Racism is immersed in Canadian society; this is clearly shown by stories of racial profiling in law enforcement.
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).
Due to different reasons, many people are unemployed in Canada which is a problem that can lead to many negative consequences. It can influence families, individuals and children. It also may increase the crime rates, divorce rates, and child poverty rates. Children may not be able to finish their education because of their financial situation and their stress which will have a huge impact on themselves and on their future. People may fall into debt problems, many find it difficult to keep up with their mortgage repayments because of long term unemployment. Unemployment rates increased to 7.1% in November 2015 (Statistics Canada, 2015), and nearly 5 million Canadians were considered low income in 2012 (Grant,
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Outsourcing creates a loss in secure work and leaves people with retail and restaurants jobs, where there is little to no employee benefits and are essentially dead end jobs. Barbara Ehrenreich, “Nickel-and-dimed on (Not) Getting By in America”, talks about her undercover experience working a low wage job and the difficulties living with those financial constraints (1998). She concludes that her wage needs to be increased by about two more dollars an hour to really be a livable wage. That was in 1998 and almost 20 years later we are still facing the same issue. The lack of a livable wage cause some workers to take on two, three, or even four jobs to make ends meet. Ehrenreich continues on by saying that welfare recipients use the funds given to them in conjunction with their job(s) in order to live (1998). When marginalized groups are constantly working with low wage jobs, they have no time to trying to pursue a technical trade or higher education to get a better job in the future. This problem is what creates the continuous rut, that never allows the disadvantaged a chance in achieving
“Welcome to Canada” Canadian government website cic.gc.ca have this tagline in their immigrants webpage. But does new immigrants really feel the welcome after coming here? According to statistic Canada- “in 2013, the total population’s unemployment rate in Canada was 5.9% where new immigrants’ unemployment rate was 11.2%.” Immigrants faces unemployment problem after coming in Canada. There are several reasons behind new immigrants’ unemployment problem in Canada. The reasons for new immigrants’ unemployment in Canada are, they have language barriers, credentials problem and lack of Canadian experience. After coming in Canada immigrants’ start facing language problems as English is not the first language for most of the immigrants. They also face credential problem as they have to evaluate their foreign certificates in Canada. Mostly immigrants’ remains unemployed because they don’t have Canadian experience which could get them a job in Canada.
Throughout Canadian history, discrimination in all forms has been a constant battle; whether its race, gender, religion, beliefs, appearance or anything else that makes one person different from another. One significant inequity problem the world’s population is combatting occurs during employment. Women, who are equally trained, educated, and equipped with the same skill, as men are not getting equal, pay. This form of injustice dates back for centuries and derives from the common belief that men supply for women and women stay at home with the children, thus it is assumed that men therefore are more efficient in their career. This is also
In Canada their currency is the Canadian dollar, which is the seventh-most traded currency on foreign market. Canadians were first introduced to the coins by the French colonists, it was first called Canadian pound but after 17 years the Canadian dollar was invented, in 1934 the Bank of Canada was founded in Ottawa, Ontario.
Krings, F., & Olivares, J. (2007). At the doorstep to employment: Discrimination against immigrants as a function of applicant ethnicity, job type, and raters' prejudice. International Journal of Psychology, 42(6), 406-417.
There is the common myth that it’s too difficult to get into the physical labour sectors if you are a female. New strides have been made in levelling the career playing field with the advancements in technology and changes in the availability of educational programs. Careers thought in the past to be traditionally male oriented are becoming more female affiliated. For example construction or police work, females have trouble entering and maintaining their careers. According to Statistic Canada, 67% of all employed women are working in one of teaching, nursing and related health occupations. However, jobs in SET sectors such as engineers, artisans and construction workers have revealed that there are too few women in these positions. With more women pursuing university degrees in SET sectors, why is it still difficult for women to stay in these fields when they have applicable knowledge? Knowledge is power in these occupations when you are a woman. Getting through the actual barriers and getting people to believe the knowledge one possesses is hard as a woman (Alison Andrew, 2009). The ability of women to access SET ...
Minas, A. (2000). Gender basics: Feminist perspective on women and men.Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Thomson Learning.
It is possible to say that people there are a difference between a member of society and a member of a team of workers. The difference lies in the professional and educational background of the individual and expectations that come from these backgrounds. In fact, the immigrants as human beings are treated well in Canada, they have the same rights as the citizens of the country, apart from being able to vote, they have the same access to the healthcare system, education, being able to marry and have children. Nonetheless, there is a huge difference for the immigrants to have theoretical opportunities to be employed and the actual ones that are present on the labor market. As a matter of fact, the immigrants have to face that their backgrounds – in this case, their accent – plays a significant role (Labour Market Barriers, 2017). The employer considers the ethnicity and the language barrier one might have inside a team of workers. The employer has certain prejudices against the immigrants when it comes to their ability to speak English and French. Even though their experience and educational background correlate with the position they apply for, still the employer might reject hiring them. Nonetheless, one of the weaknesses of the concept is a lack of analysis from a perspective of the employer and the possible explanations behind the excepted features of the immigrant
The issues facing workers and unions include unemployment and the rise of precarious and part time work. Unemployment occurs is when workers have a difficulty in finding a job. Technological changes can play a negative factor because it works against unskilled workers (Johansen & Strom, 2001, p. 388). In today's society many individuals’ jobs are not permanent, as one can lose their job in a flash. An example would be machines taking over people's jobs; this can save a lot of money for the business. The goal of employment and unemployment is to focus on full time and part time jobs (Montgomery, 1989, p. 171). There are positive and negatives of employment and unemployment. It is surprising to see that when increasing wages in a union sector