Group items tagged

One big question is: why was the Silicon Valley labour market so tight? Why weren't more skilled workers available to Valley employers?

Two potential explanations spring to mind. One is that there was a structural shortage of skilled workers at the national level, and immigration rules prevented movement from abroad to clear the market. Another is that housing markets responded insufficiently to the demand for shelter in the Silicon Valley area, causing housing costs to rise too high to accommodate new workers. At the height of the tech boom, in 1999, the entire San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose metroplex approved permits for just 26,000 new housing units. In the same year, tiny Las Vegas approved 28,000. Atlanta approved over 60,000. Tight supply fueled high prices. From 1996 to 2001, home prices in San Francisco rose by more than they did during the 2002-2006 bubble. With housing costs soaring, it took very high wages to attract scarce workers. Entrepreneurship seems to have suffered as a result.

Yezdi Pavri, vice-chairman of professional services firm Deloitte in Canada. "There is a competitive business advantage to having a diverse workforce and drawing from the widest talent pool possible. At Deloitte we have created an inclusive meritocracy. We have proven just as other organizations have that diversity leads to innovation. When you capitalize on the different experiences people bring you come up with better solutions. Now, many of our clients push us to have diverse teams. The worst thing you can do these days is go to a client with a team of five white men because that does not represent what the market or what our clients look like.

Here then are some strategies small businesses can use to attract and retain skilled immigrant workers:

"Make it known that as a small employer you are interested in hiring skilled immigrants,"

hiring newcomers to help drive expansion into new markets

A new report released exclusively to The Globe and Mail shows almost one in five companies have hired a skilled immigrant to help diversify their global client base. Of those employers who hired immigrants to help them expand overseas, 93 per cent said it was effective, according to the March poll of 461 employers, conducted for the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council.

A Conference Board of Canada report in October found that every 1-percentage-point increase in the number of immigrants to Canada can increase the value of imports into Canada by 0.21 per cent, and the value of exports by 0.11 per cent. The report urged employers to hire more immigrants as a way to drive innovation and build global competitiveness.

2008 Canadian immigration Statistics are as follows: 247,202 permanent residents; 70,000 more than in 1998. The Canadian Government had a target of 240,000 to 265,000 new permanent residents for the year. 193,061 temporary foreign workers. 79,459 foreign students Total permanent and temporary residents for the year: 519,722

Funding shortages are forcing NAIT to shelve a massive expansion project which administrators say is badly needed to address Alberta's shortage of skilled workers.

She said there are more than 62,000 apprentices in Alberta, with 100 new ones registering every day, yet the province has training spots for only half that number

Andrews said NAIT hopes to eventually increase annual enrolment to 105,000, up from the 72,000 students currently in full-time, part-time and continuing education programs.

To support the development of a robust all-inclusive labour market in the Edmonton region that fosters skill development and capacity building, and attracts a diverse young workforce eager to participate in the Edmonton region and northern economies on a long-term basis

At a time when America is concerned about excess housing supply and anxious to boost its innovative capacity it is madness that so many willing immigrants, including high-skilled workers, including those educated in America, find it difficult to impossible to gain permission to work in the country on a stable, long-term basis.

The lump of labour fallacy is seductive, and in times of economic hardship it becomes very difficult to convince people that more competition for scarce jobs will make their lives better. Here again it is clear that weak labour markets are the enemy of liberalism, and those concerned for the future of free markets should do what they can to alleviate that weakness.

immigrants are people and they deserve a chance to move to maximise the return to their skills. When an immigrant moves to a rich country, that increases his or her welfare and boosts the productive potential of that country, which is good for everyone.

Both SFMade and its New York cousin, Made in N.Y.C., are increasingly able to share success stories of how manufacturing has developed new models for doing business in the 21st century. The monolithic single-industry model has evolved as manufacturers see the benefits of being smaller and paying attention to how patterns of consumption, ownership and use are shifting.

“For decades we have developed a culture of disposability — from consumer goods to medical instruments and machine tools. To fuel economic growth, marketers replaced longevity with planned obsolescence — and our mastery of technology has given birth to ever-accelerating unplanned obsolescence. I think there is increasing awareness that this is no longer sustainable on the scale we have developed.”

“It’s not some cute cottage industry,” she says, referring to the prevailing tendency to view “local” as something generally limited to cupcakes, jam or “My Mom Went to _____ And All I Got Was This T-Shirt.” The “number one thing we do,” Sofis continues, “is facilitate new connections.”

Innovation Policy and Workplace Development in Finland – A Short Look at the Current Situation and a Possible Future