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 Kongs 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 well 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 Workers

By 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%

2008
77% in Services

20% Secondary

4% Primary (2% farming)

Industry Sectors
by 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 workers
Jobs 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 Sector

UPPER TIER 54% of jobs in this sector the good jobs
DISTRIBUTIVE SERVICES

Transport, communication, wholesale

BUSINESS SERVICES

Finance, insurance, real estate, etc

EDUCATION, HEALTH AND WELFARE

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
______________________________
LOWER TIER 23% of jobs in this sector not so good
RETAIL
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 90s
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 cuts
2) 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

This left us very dependent on foreign investment and

foreign markets = vulnerable

Fish, fur, timber, wheat, minerals, oil

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 1960s 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 Diseaseoil attracts investment, then
manufacturing suffers
Resource hinterlands a history of boom and
bust

Maritimes
Northern Ontario
West
North

For next classon 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.
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