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Blog: Relentlessly Progressive Economics Recent Blog Posts Bloggers Why the City of RSS feed Vancouver should divest from fossil fuels Comments policy The Staple Theory @ 50: Dan Ciuriak About the Progressive This is Not the Economics « Previous post | Next post » Saskatchewan NDP’s Forum Official Position Kari Polanyi-Levitt’s PEF Steering While You Were Sleeping: Fed Policies Make It New Book Committee What happened to the Easier to Hire a Cheaper You recovery? Galbraith Prize in Economics Royalties should be Posted by under democracy, demographics, economic the Keystone of growth, employment, immigration, temporary workers. PEF at the Saskatchewan’s Canadian May 3rd, 2012 Petroleum Policy Economics Comments: 1 The Staple Theory @ Association 50: Gord Laxer meetings IPCC: Time for a A shorter version of this article appeared today in ’s Global Carbon Budget Student Essay Economy Lab Contest The Staple Theory @ 50: Hugh Grant and Links Have you noticed how common it has become to talk about replacing workers David Wolfe with even cheaper workers? If you’re looking over your shoulder, you’re not Sask. Party Spin Join the PEF Outstrips Population paranoid; you’re paying attention. There’s probably a cheaper you out there. And Growth Contact us in Canada, the feds are helping your boss find them. The Staple Theory @ 50: Abe Rotstein What’s New at the PEF This week, the International Labour Organization noted there are 50 million The Staple Theory @ 50: Introduction to a fewer jobs in the global economy than before the financial crisis began in 2008. Special Blog Series Posts by Some 200 million people are now looking for work, and many of them are on the The benefits of sick leave — and of Author move. Some have landed here. absenteeism Andrew Jackson The Blackberry mess But with 1.4 million unemployed, many Canadians, too, are desperately seeking Angella MacEwen and what Canada opportunity, and trying to avoid losing economic ground. As manufacturers needs Armine Yalnizyan continue to decamp to low-wage climes, and the public sector sheds jobs, the job The rise and fall (and Arun DuBois rise?) of Blackberry – Bruce Livesey options are sliding down the income scale. There, the growing competition is the story that just won’t quit David Macdonald pushing the pay floor lower and lower. Regina’s P3 Ellen Russell Columnists Why? Canada, oddly, has welcomed newcomers in record numbers throughout a Eric Pineault Inflation Slump Erin Weir recession even as unemployment rates spiked. But our policies are shifting, and Validates Low Interest Rates Iglika Ivanova with it the type of labour market and society we are creating. Today, the What’s the real risk Jim Stanford preferential nod is being given to a soaring number of temporary foreign workers, and cost for Regina’s Keith Newman or “guest” workers. Make no mistake: These are people who are brought here at wastewater P3? Marc Lee the pleasure of employers, and stay at the pleasure of employers. More on alternate measures of Marjorie Griffin unemployment Cohen In 2011 156,000 economic immigrants entered Canada as permanent residents, Trickle Down Would Mathieu Dufour Work If It Weren’t For while 191,000 people entered with a temporary work permit, granted to The Sponges At The Mel Watkins employers by the federal government. Many of these permits extend beyond a Top Nick Falvo year, so as of December 1 2011 there were over 300,111 temporary foreign Black Day for EI in Regan Boychuk July workers employed in Canada, the highest number on record. The number of Toby Sanger Unemployment is temporary foreign workers has more than doubled since 2006. higher than you think. Wenonah Bradshaw Who really bears the risk for P3s? History of RPE When Good Data Thought Goes Bad: The NHS2011 October 2013 NHS fails low September 2013 incomes–and August 2013 Canadians July 2013 Memo to Obama: Canada’s carbon June 2013 problem IS the tar May 2013 sands April 2013 What UBC and SMU’s rape chant scandals March 2013 say about women in February 2013 the Canadian January 2013 economy December 2012 A Fine Balance: GDP Growth by Sector and November 2012 the Impact of October 2012 Austerity September 2012 EI Premium Freeze Leaves Unemployed August 2012 The federal government is promoting the temporary foreign worker program as a Canadians in the Cold July 2012 solution to skill shortages now faced by employers, particularly in the West. Yet Part-Time Growth in a June 2012 35 per cent of the nation’s temporary foreign workers are in Ontario, and almost “Hamster Wheel” Job Market May 2012 one in five (18 per cent) are in , which has an unemployment rate of 8.6 The G-20, Global April 2012 per cent. Labour shortage? I don’t think so. Stagnation and the March 2012 Option of Wage Led Growth February 2012 Those numbers will soon rise. Last week, the federal government announced that Unifor: Canada’s January 2012 employers could usher in high-skilled temporary workers like engineers and Newest Union December 2011 electricians in 10 days instead of the current 12-14 week approval process, noting The New Attack on November 2011 this fast-tracking will likely be extended to other categories of temporary foreign Unions October 2011 Economists for Linda workers. But the fastest growing contingent of temporary foreign workers now McQuaig September 2011 are low-skilled workers, whose numbers have grown ten-fold in just five years. EI, Self-Insurance or August 2011 This category of temporary foreign workers are not the seasonal fruit-and- Three-Card Monte? July 2011 vegetable pickers that our nation also relies on. Low-skilled temporary workers GDP: Consumers to June 2011 the Rescue are the people who toil year-round at Tim Horton’s and Canadian Tire, in our May 2011 P3 or No Federal abattoirs, nursing homes and hotels, and any workplace where employers say Funding: A Third April 2011 they can’t find Canadian workers willing to work at the offered wage rates. Option for Regina March 2011 Wastewater? February 2011 Inflation Eats Up Disturbingly, the federal announcement also set out new wage rules which permit January 2011 Three-Quarters of employers to pay temporary foreign workers up to 15 per cent below the average Wage Gains December 2010 paid for that type of work locally, sanctioning the creation of a two-tiered “us and Blissful Ignorance: November 2010 another Conference them” labour market. October 2010 Board report on P3s September 2010 ’s Even if such a rule were rigorously applied and monitored — and budget cuts may Liberal Use of August 2010 Economic Platitudes eliminate the staff to do this job — it guarantees a downward trend in wages for July 2010 Can Canadians Really everyone. Fifteen per cent below the average is a recipe for continuous decline June 2010 “Buy Into” Mexico? May 2010 when labour shortages are filled, as a matter of policy, by those who get paid less What’s a Point of Corporate Tax Worth? April 2010 and are not allowed to stay long enough to ask for more. Why Is Tom Mulcair March 2010 Opposed to Tax February 2010 Lower wages for most workers will not be an accidental, unintended result of this Increases? January 2010 federal policy initiative. Ottawa’s recently announced reforms did not include a Labour Force December 2009 Numbers Worse Than change in the four year cap on residency for temporary foreign workers, brought They Look November 2009 into play in 2011. That rule guarantees two things: one, employers can minimize Austerity Bites? October 2009 the costs of churn; and two, a permanently temporary class of workers is created, Public-Sector September 2009 Implosion Hits keeping wages and expectations low. Canada’s Job Market August 2009 Saskatchewan Budget July 2009 The insider/outsider ethos is also reinforced by policy design. The salute to Saved by Falling Loonie June 2009 increased use of temporary foreign workers was also not accompanied by May 2009 Funding Cuts to increased quotas which the federal government sets for the number of people that Alberta’s PSE Sector: April 2009 provinces can nominate for fast-track citizenship. In Alberta, by the end of 2011 There Are Alternatives March 2009 over 58,000 people were working under temporary foreign work permits, up Linda McQuaig for February 2009 from about 37,000 at the end of 2007. The province can only nominate up to January 2009 Is Chrystia Freeland 5,000 of these workers to become Canadian. The vast majority of low skilled Progressive? December 2008 temporary foreign workers have no avenue for permanent residency. Economist November 2008 October 2008 This latest twist in Canadian immigration policy accelerates the growth in income Recent Blog September 2008 inequality which, left unchecked, can destabilize and disrupt the economy, Comments August 2008 society, and democratic institutions. Dan Tan on This is July 2008 Not the Saskatchewan June 2008 NDP’s Official By positioning more temporary foreign workers as the fix for labour shortages — Position May 2008 a malaise that will only get worse in the coming years — the federal government Paul Tulloch on Kari April 2008 Polanyi-Levitt’s New is assaulting deep-rooted values that have guided Canada’s evolution as a society. March 2008 Book February 2008 André Chapdelaine on Even the Chinese railway workers of the 1800s came with “landed immigrant” On Being Sued by January 2008 status. Emphasizing the benefits of a disposable class of workers is a very recent, December 2007 and unsavoury, development in our history. Mark Bigland- November 2007 Pritchard on Royalties should be the October 2007 This nation was built by immigrants who had a stake in its future. Together we Keystone of September 2007 Saskatchewan’s created an economy which today is the tenth largest in the world. While the August 2007 Petroleum Policy economy will continue to grow, the distribution of the gains from that growth July 2007 David Roytenberg on threatens to become rapidly even more lopsided. Policies like favouring The Staple Theory @ June 2007 50: Hugh Grant and May 2007 temporary foreign workers over economic immigrants means the next generation David Wolfe April 2007 of Canadians are all but assured to have a lower standard of living than the Larry Kazdan on What happened to the March 2007 current generation of decision-makers have enjoyed their whole lives. recovery? February 2007 John on What January 2007 As an economist, I understand cheaper labour will benefit some employers in the happened to the recovery? December 2006 short term, though the longer-term results will slow purchasing power and growth. Vilhelmo on MMT: November 2006 What it Means for October 2006 Canada September 2006 As a Canadian, I am appalled that public policy can be boiled down to this. We Thomas Bergbusch on are all cheapened as a result. The Staple Theory @ August 2006 50: Gord Laxer July 2006 Paul Tulloch on The June 2006 Share and Enjoy: Staple Theory @ 50: Introduction to a Special Blog Series Posts by Tag Paul Tulloch on The Adam Smith (12) Comments Blackberry mess and addiction (9) what Canada needs Comment from Marcus Africa (6) Time: May 27, 2012, 6:57 pm Ben Klass on The Staple Theory @ 50: Alberta (82) How real conservatives have been duped to believe in these policies is an amazing Introduction to a asset backed success story of media concentration. The almost unanimous punditry of the right has Special Blog Series commercial paper (13) turned our county paranoid of the left and ignorant of economic realities. Waking Jim Stanford on The Austerity (7) these people up will be a Herculean effort. Staple Theory @ 50: Australia (6) Introduction to a Occupy Postmedia. 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