This note examines recent developments in the Canadian labor market to provide a partial assessment of the magnitude and nature of industrial restructuring in Canada. The implications of industrial restructuring for the medium- and long-term prospects for the Canadian economy are examined. The evidence presented in this note suggests that the recent increases in labor productivity may represent a cyclical phenomenon rather than a permanent increase in the rate of growth of productivity.
Interrogating the New Economy is a collection of original essays investigating the New Economy and how changes ascribed to it have impacted labour relations, access to work, and, more generally, the social and cultural experiences of work in Canada. Based on years of participatory research, sector-specific studies, and quantitative and qualitative data collection, the work accounts for the ways in which the contemporary workplace has changed but also the extent to which older forms of work organization still remain. The collection begins with an overview of the key social and economic transformations that define the New Economy. It then illustrates these transformations through examples, including essays on wine tourism, the regeneration of mining communities, the place of student workers, and changes in the public service workplace. It also addresses unions and their responses to the restructuring of work, as well as other forms of resistance.
Canada and the countries of Latin America are in the midst of major changes and choices in the area of labor markets and related social policy. These decisions are likely to have profound consequences for the quality of life of workers throughout the hemisphere. Labor Market Policies in Canada and Latin America: Challenges of the New Millennium reviews the evidence of Canada and Latin America on three major labor policy instruments - unemployment insurance, minimum wages and training - and on the effects of the payroll taxes which are the main means of funding the unemployment insurance system and other components of social expenditure. This is the first study attempting an in-depth comparison of these labor policy instruments between Canada and Latin America. The useful juxtaposition of Canadian and Latin American experiences comes at a time when the trend in Canada is to back away from the perhaps overly generous or ineffectively administered elements of the labor legislation/social security net and when Latin American countries have undertaken significant reforms of their past systems but require further changes to move toward the sorts of legislation and support systems that characterize developed countries. The experiences of Canada and Latin America are mutually relevant since all are small economies forced to adjust to events at the world or hemispheric level and most are inclined to approach policy in an intermediate fashion which falls between the more market-oriented American and the more interventionist European models. Together with its comparative aspect, this volume attempts a more balanced and in-depth assessment in each of the policy areas than has hitherto been available. The gradually increasing base of available empirical data on the period after the reforms has been used in the studies, which provide thorough syntheses of the available research for Canada and Latin America.
An analysis of geographic trends in the Canadian economy studying patterns of development, consumption, shifts in employment, and the locational behavior of industries. The 24 essays written by Canadian economic geographers explore themes in regards to the openness of the Canadian economy, its simple economic geography in regional variation of resources and urban development, its rapid advances in technology, and the role of government in national and international markets. Canadian card order number C96-900023-5. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
The cultural economy forms a leading trajectory of urban development, and has emerged as a key facet of globalizing cities. Cultural industries include new media, digital arts, music and film, and the design industries and professions, as well as allied consumption and spectacle in the city. The cultural economy now represents the third-largest sector in many metropolitan cities of the West including London, Berlin, New York, San Francisco, and Melbourne, and is increasingly influential in the development of East Asian cities (Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore), as well as the mega-cities of the Global South (e.g. Mumbai, Capetown, and São Paulo). Cities and the Cultural Economy provides a critical integration of the burgeoning research and policy literatures in one of the most prominent sub-fields of contemporary urban studies. Policies for cultural economy are increasingly evident within planning, development and place-marketing programs, requiring large resource commitments, but producing – on the evidence – highly uneven results. Accordingly the volume includes a critical review of how the new cultural economy is reshaping urban labour, housing and property markets, contributing to gentrification and to ‘precarious employment’ formation, as well as to broadly favorable outcomes, such as community regeneration and urban vitality. The volume acknowledges the important growth dynamics and sustainability of key creative industries. Written primarily as a text for upper-level undergraduate and Masters students in urban, economic and social geography; sociology; cultural studies; and planning, this provocative and compelling text will also be of interest to those studying urban land economics, architecture, landscape architecture and the built environment.
Prominent economists discuss internal labor markets, the dynamics of immigration, labor market regulation, and other key topics in the work of Michael J. Piore. In Economy in Society, five prominent social scientists honor Michael J. Piore in original essays that explore key topics in Piore's work and make significant independent contributions in their own right. Piore is distinctive for his original research that explores the interaction of social, political, and economic considerations in the labor market and in the economic development of nations and regions. The essays in this volume reflect this rigorous interdisciplinary approach to important social and economic questions. M. Diane Burton's essay extends our understanding of internal labor markets by considering the influence of surrounding firms; Natasha Iskander builds on Piore's theory of immigration with a study of Mexican construction workers in two cities; Suzanne Berger highlights insights from Piore's work on technology and industrial development; Andrew Schrank takes up the theme of regulatory discretion; and Charles Sabel discusses theories of public bureaucracy.
Faced with increased levels of international competition and mounting budget deficits some developed, Western economies have responded by introducing trade restrictions. This book uses a comparative analysis of eight leading industrial nations (including Japan, the United States, West Germany and Britain) to demonstrate that such policies are mistaken. Alternatives to trade restrictions, including subsidies for industries and labour-market policy instruments are also shown to have their drawbacks, and the book emphasises the need for countries to find and exploit policies which fulfil their own political and social needs but which are least injurious to their trading partners.
Workplace injuries are common, avoidable, and unacceptable. The Political Economy of Workplace Injury in Canada reveals how employers and governments engage in ineffective injury prevention efforts, intervening only when necessary to maintain standard legitimacy. Barnetson sheds light on this faulty system, highlighting the way in which employers create dangerous work environments yet pour billions of dollars into compensation and treatment. Examining this dynamic clarifies the way in which production costs are passed on to workers in the form of workplace injuries.
