Group items tagged

This is a resource from the Canada Revenue Agency about the underground economy, which was a term mentioned a couple of times in this week's notes. Though this document is skewed by the fact that it is produced by a government agency, it is still useful for getting more information and specifics.

Interesting article written in April 2013, when RBC was outsourcing jobs and there was much hype in the media about it.  The author makes some interesting points which I have highlighted for you to read.  Firstly, commenting on the fact that Indian workers are actually as well qualified or more qualified than Canadian workers to get the job done.  Friedman mentions this in his book when talking about his visits to Bangalore.  She notes that when businesses boost profit this is good for the economy because it means they will invest it. However, it was noted by Stanford in Economics for Everyone, that this is not always the case, and the amount of profit being spent on luxury goods rather than investment is currently increasing.  Interesting note the author makes about us vs them.  She mentions that if the jobs had been moving somewhere else in Canada, would the reaction have been just as passionate?  It is important to ensure that we are looking at cultural and racial issues here and taking these into account.   Lastly, she comments that on how we have to allow "the natural forces of capitalism to work".  Stanford also mentions how economists will often refer to capitalism as "natural" and that this is not true.  It is one economic system (which has been created by man) which we currently use, but it is not the only one that can exist, and it certainly did not exist before man did.  It is not natural like the seasons.  

This short article from a marketing school resource outlines key themes for self-marketing and the need for skill mastery in the changing workplace. While also providing more general advice to job-seekers everywhere in the form of how to put yourself out there. 

I am particularly interested in working with at risk youth. It has been identified that youth unemployment and underemployment is in fact rising and is, amazingly, higher than during the recession! This article talks about medium and large companies getting on board to help young people gain skills during high school and/or post-secondary in order to add practical experience to their resume, along with their debt-inducing education. It will be interesting to see what happens over the coming years.

Just the way open source is supposed to work is the subtitle, an accurate reflection of the current state of open source software and the fact that it currently continues to advance in software development in the 21st century.

This short article is interesting in that it argues that despite being a job that can't be outsourced, the construction industry gets neglected and has a reputation for being a dirty job. It also points out the positives and possibilities within. It made me think how this industry could be a smart one to get into and will probably go through some changes in the coming years as it evolves due to the fact of more/different people getting into it because for the most part, it can't be outsourced (eg. hopefully women and not the typical "macho" type).

"The World is Flat" chapter 6 reveals that less young people are interested in science compared to the 'race to land on the moon' era which is really interesting, This website offers statistics on the most occupied college majors and business is overwhelmingly #1. People seem to want to make as much money as they can and the university I went to (Laurier) was very business dominated - so much they are building their own business building across the street!