This article provides an overview of and link to the Cumulative Earrings of Post Secondary Graduates Over 20 Years report by Statistics Canada. It looks at gender and education level as main factors.

With my keen interest in social justice, I thought this was a great article to end the year on. This article summarizes much of what I feel about poverty and social justice. Career counselling is very client focused, and poverty is a socially constructed issue, and often the barriers our clients face are external to themselves. At the end the author sites how we must work with the community to make meaningful change for our clients. This is of utmost importance to me.

The forces of the Shift that surrounded the changing face of poverty really interested me. I saw these as being important to my future because of my keen interest in social justice. I can see my future work having to do with helping underprivileged people. This article provides an interest perspective on why the face of the poor is changing, even though between 2005 and 2010 nearly half a billion people escaped $1.25-a-day poverty.

On page 216 of the Shift, Gratton mentions that the internet is increasingly being used to help entrepreneurs find funding for their projects. This made me think of something I had seen in passing a couple of times, called 'crowdfunding'. Crowdfunding refers to sites that allow you to raise money for a certain idea, company, start-up etc. These sites charge a fee (usually percentage of money raised) and provide certain services to customers (PR, coaching etc). Some sites allow only certain types of ventures (creative ventures, Bands only, T-shirts only, non-profit/charity only), while others are open to everyone. Sites typically offer a "Keep-Everything" policy (where you keep the money regardless of getting the goal), or an "All-or-nothing" policy (where you only get to keep the money if you reach the goal). This article provides some of the top platforms for crowdfunding, however in my preliminary research I was able to find sites that were not on this list such as "GoGetFunding" and "Patreon" and "GiveForwards". It seems that these sites are popping up all over the internet! Definitely something to keep an eye on!

In "The Virgin Guadalupe" of The World is Flat 3.0, Freidman talks about how in Ireland public college education is basically free. This allows them to develop a more educated workforce which has been beneficial for them economically. This article from Oct 2014 explains how Germany has moved in the same direction.

In Chapter Seven, Freidman talks about Georgia Tech's investment in musical activities for their science students. This video gives an overview of the neurological research behind why playing music benefits the brain.

Convergence 1 - (pg 204 of 3.0 edition, Friedman) "The convergence of the ten flatteners had created a whole new platform. It is a global, Web-enabled platform for multiple forms of collaboration. This platform enables individuals, groups, companies and universities anywhere in the world to collaborate - for the purposes of innovation, production, education, research, entertainment, and, alas, war-making - like no creative platform ever before" This website offers courses from "top universities and organizations worldwide". It allows students to listen to lectures, take quizzes, submit assignments and receive peer feedback. These can be taken from anywhere in the world and are taken at your own pace in a blended learning environment.

Convergence 1 - (pg 204 of 3.0 edition, Friedman) "The convergence of the ten flatteners had created a whole new platform. It is a global, Web-enabled platform for multiple forms of collaboration. This platform enables individuals, groups, companies and universities anywhere in the world to collaborate - for the purposes of innovation, production, education, research, entertainment, and, alas, war-making - like no creative platform ever before" This website provides free online courses in a variety of topics. It collaborates with Universities, Libraries Museums, and Professional Associations across the world to provide these resources. It is really free learning, the only fee is if you want a Certification of Participation at the end. Otherwise it is a really great online set up for learning, that goes week by week (much like our D2L, or eConestoga) with activities, readings, articles, discussion boards, videos etc.

This program is program developed specifically for gymnastics clubs. It manages classes, fees, and even can keep track of inventory and sales at your front desk. Parents can access this from home and fill in registration information, sign up online for available classes and even make monthly payments without ever needing to come into the gym.

This web-tool was originally a special module of the web tools offered by Tools for Organizations since 2000. However, in 2010 it was released a stand-alone software for scheduling and managing volunteers for events and projects. The system allows volunteers to sign up for hours, once the event is completed the staff member then confirms these hours, and these hours are logged and tracked.

Constant contact is an online marketing tool. It allows users to create professional looking emails with easy to use templates. It also provides many other tools to incorporate into your emails such as surveys, RSVP's for events, coupons, Facebook promotions and much more.

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 week I researched different Graduate Placement Reports from Colleges and Universities that you could use to find Labour Market Information. McMaster - Easy to find when searched on Google. Divides by areas of study. Information is a little old (2011).

This week I researched different Graduate Placement Reports from Colleges and Universities that you could use to find Labour Market Information. UofT - Was difficult to find, had to do a lot of searching. Only gives overall employment rate, not broken down into programs or even program areas.

This week I researched different Graduate Placement Reports from Colleges and Universities that you could use to find Labour Market Information. Conestoga - Very easy to find when searching Google. Up to date information. Very thorough, gives statistics for all programs, not just program areas.

This week I researched different Graduate Placement Reports from Colleges and Universities that you could use to find Labour Market Information. Queens - showing information from 2013 and 2012. Information divided by area of study. Was easy to find when searched on Google.

This article describes ways in which small independent artisans can fight back against the competition of large megacompanies. Although in Chapter 9 Stanford mentions that independent businesses are negligible in the large scheme of things, I think it is interesting to look at competition from this point of view. Also, upon reading this article, I think that these kinds of more personal purchasing interactions may become more popular in the coming world as Etsy is another online marketplace, similar to ones mentioned by Gratton in The Shift.

In Chapter 8 of Economics for Everyone, Jim Stanford brings up on multiple occasions the need for labour extraction, and the use of the carrot and stick (reward and punishment) model in all businesses. As soon as I was reading this it made me think of a book I read last year by Alfie Kohn on Punishment and Reward. Kohn believes that punishments are just as bad as rewards, and that using either reduces happiness, and productivity. The first section of the book focuses on the research showing that the use of both punishments and rewards is detrimental to people's ability to do good work. In the second section he looks specifically at punishments and rewards in 3 places, the workplace, the school, and the home. In the third section he suggests new methods of motivation for all three places. When I origionally read this I was focused on his his ideas about school, however he his theories are equally important to the world of work!

This article takes an interesting look at how Nordic countries are reshaping their economies after the economic lows in 2007-08. Interestingly enough, much has been changing since Economics for Everyone was published in 2008. Very interesting read!

This website was used by an entrepreneur I know. Basically it is like the marketplace InnoCentive mentioned in Chapter 5 of The Shift, however it is based around logo design. Basically entrepreneurs put out a call or contest for the logo you would like, with an explanation of what its being used for, who the audience is etc. Then graphic designers place in entries. Once the contest is over you choose your favourite one and they get paid the prize. It costs $29 to start a contest and then whatever you are willing to pay for your prize. My friend who used it was very successful, and as soon as I read about InnoCentive it made me think of this! I can image there will be more websites like this in the future