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Omar Yaqub

Building America's Third Great Job Machine - Richard Florida - Business - The Atlantic - 0 views

www.theatlantic.com/...238316

Work competitiveness

shared by Omar Yaqub on 07 Jun 11 - No Cached
  • The first American job machine was organized around farms and agricultural employment. More than four in 10 Americans worked on farms in 1800. Another 20 percent or so worked in manufacturing.
  • The second great American job machine took hold during the mid-19th century, propelled by the surge in manufacturing.  By late in the century, some 60 percent of the workforce had been absorbed in industrial jobs while agricultural work dropped to roughly ten percent of employment. Industrial and blue-collar manufacturing jobs would power America's economic and employment growth for the better part of the next century, until roughly1950. But for most of those years, it was low-wage, long-day, dirty and dangerous work -- it wasn't until the Great Depression, the New Deal, and post WW II prosperity that blue-collar jobs became good, family supporting jobs.
  • Against the backdrop of a massive decline in once high-paying blue collar manufacturing jobs which is eerily similar to the decline of agricultural jobs a century or so ago, this third transformation is creating not one overall, but two distinct categories of jobs and employment.
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • first category includes millions of the best jobs America has ever seen: high-pay, high-skill jobs in knowledge-based professional and creative fields. Almost a third of American workers now have these kinds of jobs, which pay more than double most manufacturing jobs and which have been rather impervious to unemployment.
  • When unemployment among production workers climbed to more than 15 percent and surged above 20 percent for construction workers, unemployment among professional, technical and creative workers never got much above five percent.
  • the second category, which comprises such routine service work as personal care assistants and home health care aids, retail sales clerks, and food preparers -- is not so good. In fact, the pay for these jobs is roughly half that of manufacturing jobs. The result is as simple as it is tragic: a startling bifurcation of the job market and an increasingly unequal and divided society. Once we see this, it becomes clear that neither of the two most commonly cited prescriptions -- the counter-cyclical approach to job creation by boosting investment and demand, or the path of educating more people for higher-paying knowledge-based jobs -- can work.
  • A successful jobs strategy must focus centrally on upgrading the content and improving the wages of this entire job category. That is what happened a century ago, when public policy shifted to protect workers' rights and line jobs in manufacturing, once considered dirty and dangerous and impossible to upgrade, became high-paid work.
  • service work and service workers are not just a necessary cost of doing business, part of the overhead, but a potential profit center. Service workers can produce real value and there's no reason that they can't have real careers.
  • make the upgrading of service jobs a key prong of America's next great job machine.
  • Most service firms are smaller, mom-and-pop operations. To bring them into the 21stcentury, the administration should develop strategies to help these smaller firms learn the advantages of seeing workers as sources of innovation and productivity gains.
  • This could be a modest, low cost public-private partnership, involving universities, community colleges, and industry groups, modeled perhaps along the lines of the old Agricultural and Manufacturing Extension programs. The administration should also consider using incentives to encourage companies to upgrade service jobs, which would have the added benefit of improving the overall productivity of the highly fragmented service sector -- the last great frontier of inefficiency in advanced economies -- lifting the productivity of the economy overall, while boosting wages and lifting consumer demand.
  • This wouldn't come for free. All of us would have to pay a little more to the people who clean our homes, take care of our kids and aging parents, cut our hair, and sell us our clothes. This is exactly what we did a half century ago to spur recovery, when we agreed to pay more to the workers who made our cars and appliances and were building our homes. The costs are so modest and widely spread that they are unlikely to derail any recovery. And the payoffs in terms of productivity gains and increased demand are surely worth it.
Omar Yaqub

The awful truth: education won't stop the west getting poorer | Peter Wilby | Comment i... - 0 views

www.guardian.co.uk/...tion-jobs-middle-class-decline

education trends competitiveness work

shared by Omar Yaqub on 02 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • Skilled jobs will go to the lowest bidder worldwide. A decline in middle class pay and job satisfaction is only just beginning
  • Americans are about to suffer a profound shock. For the past 30 years governments have explained that, while they can no longer protect jobs through traditional forms of state intervention such as subsidies and tariffs, they can expand and reform education to maximise opportunity. If enough people buckle down to acquiring higher-level skills and qualifications, Europeans and Americans will continue to enjoy rising living standards. If they work hard enough, each generation can still do better than its parents. All that is required is to bring schools up to scratch and persuade universities to teach "marketable" skills. That is the thinking behind Michael Gove's policies and those of all his recent predecessors as education secretary.
  • "Knowledge work", supposedly the west's salvation, is now being exported like manual work. A global mass market in unskilled labour is being quickly succeeded by a market in middle-class work, particularly for industries, such as electronics, in which so much hope of employment opportunities and high wages was invested. As supply increases, employers inevitably go to the cheapest source. A chip designer in India costs 10 times less than a US one.
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  • Alan Blinder, a former vice-chairman of the US Federal Reserve, has estimated that a quarter of all American service sector jobs could go overseas.
  • Western neoliberal "flat earthers" (after Thomas Friedman's book) believed jobs would migrate overseas in an orderly fashion. Some skilled work might eventually leave but, they argued, it would make space for new industries, requiring yet higher skills and paying better wages. Only highly educated westerners would be capable of the necessary originality and adaptability. Developing countries would obligingly wait for us to innovate in new areas before trying to compete.
  • But why shouldn't developing countries leapfrog the west? Asia now produces more scientists and engineers than the EU and the US put together. By 2012, on current trends, the Chinese will patent more inventions than any other nation.
  • t suggests neoliberals made a second, perhaps more important error. They assumed "knowledge work" would always entail the personal autonomy, creativity and job satisfaction to which the middle classes were accustomed. They did not understand that, as the industrial revolution allowed manual work to be routinised, so in the electronic revolution the same fate would overtake many professional jobs. Many "knowledge skills" will go the way of craft skills. They are being chopped up, codified and digitised. Every high street once had bank managers who used their discretion and local knowledge to decide which customers should receive loans. Now software does the job. Human judgment is reduced to a minimum, which explains why loan applicants are often denied because of some tiny, long-forgotten overdue payment
  • Digital Taylorism makes jobs easier to export but, crucially, changes the nature of much professional work. Aspirant graduates face the prospect not only of lower wages, smaller pensions and less job security than their parents enjoyed but also of less satisfying careers. True, every profession and company will retain a cadre of thinkers and decision-makers at the top – perhaps 10% or 15% of the total – but the mass of employees, whether or not they hold high qualifications, will perform routine functions for modest wages. Only for those with elite qualifications from elite universities (not all in Europe or America) will education deliver the promised rewards.
  • The effects of the financial squeeze and deficit reduction programme will threaten much more than this government's survival. We shall see, in all probability, a permanent reduction in British living standards that can't be arrested by educational reform. Neoliberalism, already badly dented by the financial meltdown, will be almost entirely discredited. Governments will then need to rethink their attitudes to education, inequality and the state's economic role.
  • Omar Yaqub on 02 Mar 11
     
    Skilled jobs will go to the lowest bidder worldwide. A decline in middle class pay and job satisfaction is only just beginning
Omar Yaqub

The growing US jobs challenge - McKinsey Quarterly - Economic Studies - Country Reports - 0 views

www.mckinseyquarterly.com/...growing_US_jobs_challenge_2816

Work us

shared by Omar Yaqub on 20 Jul 11 - No Cached
  • The growing US jobs challenge It could take more than five years—longer than after any postwar downturn—to replace the millions of jobs lost to the 2008–09 recession. How can the US rev up its job creation engine?
  • Omar Yaqub on 20 Jul 11
     
    The growing US jobs challenge It could take more than five years-longer than after any postwar downturn-to replace the millions of jobs lost to the 2008-09 recession. How can the US rev up its job creation engine?
Omar Yaqub

Degrees and Dollars - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...07krugman.html

education

shared by Omar Yaqub on 07 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • It is a truth universally acknowledged that education is the key to economic success. Everyone knows that the jobs of the future will require ever higher levels of skill. That’s why, in an appearance Friday with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, President Obama declared that “If we want more good news on the jobs front then we’ve got to make more investments in education.”
  • But what everyone knows is wrong.
  • technological progress is actually reducing the demand for highly educated workers.
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • since 1990 or so the U.S. job market has been characterized not by a general rise in the demand for skill, but by “hollowing out”: both high-wage and low-wage employment have grown rapidly, but medium-wage jobs — the kinds of jobs we count on to support a strong middle class — have lagged behind. And the hole in the middle has been getting wider: many of the high-wage occupations that grew rapidly in the 1990s have seen much slower growth recently, even as growth in low-wage employment has accelerated.
  • jobs that can’t be carried out by following explicit rules — a category that includes many kinds of manual labor, from truck drivers to janitors — will tend to grow even in the face of technological progress.
  • production workers in manufacturing down to about 6 percent of U.S. employment, there aren’t many assembly-line jobs left to lose. Meanwhile, quite a lot of white-collar work currently carried out by well-educated, relatively well-paid workers may soon be computerized.
  • robot janitors are a long way off; computerized legal research and computer-aided medical diagnosis are already here.
  • we need to fix American education. In particular, the inequalities Americans face at the starting line — bright children from poor families are less likely to finish college than much less able children of the affluent — aren’t just an outrage; they represent a huge waste of the nation’s human potential.
  • things education can’t do. In particular, the notion that putting more kids through college can restore the middle-class society we used to have is wishful thinking. It’s no longer true that having a college degree guarantees that you’ll get a good job, and it’s becoming less true with each passing decade.
  • education isn’t the answer — we’ll have to go about building that society directly. We need to restore the bargaining power that labor has lost over the last 30 years, so that ordinary workers as well as superstars have the power to bargain for good wages. We need to guarantee the essentials, above all health care, to every citizen.
  • What we can’t do is get where we need to go just by giving workers college degrees, which may be no more than tickets to jobs that don’t exist or don’t pay middle-class wages.
Omar Yaqub

Andy Kessler: Is Your Job an Endangered Species? - WSJ.com - 0 views

online.wsj.com/...3439504576116340050218236.html

work trends competitiveness

shared by Omar Yaqub on 23 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • Technology is eating jobs—and not just obvious ones like toll takers and phone operators. Lawyers and doctors are at risk as well.
  • Forget blue-collar and white- collar. There are two types of workers in our economy: creators and servers. Creators are the ones driving productivity—writing code, designing chips, creating drugs, running search engines. Servers, on the other hand, service these creators (and other servers) by building homes, providing food, offering legal advice, and working at the Department of Motor Vehicles.
  • Many servers will be replaced by machines, by computers and by changes in how business operates. It's no coincidence that Google announced it plans to hire 6,000 workers in 2011.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • Sloppers are those that move things—from one side of a store or factory to another. Amazon is displacing thousands of retail workers. DMV employees and so many other government workers move information from one side of a counter to another without adding any value. Such sloppers are easy to purge with clever code.
  • Sponges are those who earned their jobs by passing a test meant to limit supply. According to this newspaper, 23% of U.S. workers now need a state license.
  • Supersloppers mark up prices based on some marketing or branding gimmick, not true economic value.
  • Slimers are those that work in finance and on Wall Street. They provide the grease that lubricates the gears of the economy.
  • Thieves have a government mandate to make good money and a franchise that could disappear with the stroke of a pen.
  • Like it or not, we are at the beginning of a decades-long trend. Beyond the demise of toll takers and stock traders, watch enrollment dwindle in law schools and medical schools. Watch the divergence in stock performance between companies that actually create and those that are in transition—just look at Apple, Netflix and Google over the last five years as compared to retailers and media.
  • this economy is incredibly dynamic, and there is no quick fix for job creation when so much technology-driven job destruction is taking place. Fortunately, history shows that labor-saving machines haven't decreased overall employment even when they have made certain jobs obsolete. Ultimately the economic growth created by new jobs always overwhelms the drag from jobs destroyed—if policy makers let it happen.
Omar Yaqub

Lure of jobs in Alberta not enough to get workers to stay: StatsCan - 0 views

www.calgaryherald.com/...story.html

jobs alberta labour work government statistics

shared by Omar Yaqub on 23 Sep 13 - No Cached
  • A Statistics Canada study suggests that the lure of jobs in Alberta's energy sector isn't enough to persuade out-of-province workers to make a permanent move.
  • there were plenty of people moving to Alberta between 2004 and 2009. But only one in four who were coming for jobs decided to make Alberta their primary residence
  • three-quarters of the job seekers were men under the age of 35 from British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Atlantic Canada
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Roughly half of those were employed in construction and oil and gas extraction. More than one-third of female interprovincial employees were working in accommodation and food services or retail trade.
  • In 2004, there were between 62,000 and 67,500 interprovincial employees in Alberta, accounting for about 3.8 per cent of provincial employment. By 2008, the number of interprovincial employees had increased to a peak of 133,000, making up 6.2 per cent of the workforce.
  • More than 330,000 workers live and work in Canada as part of the federal temporary foreign worker program — a number that has nearly tripled over the last 10 years, with the bulk of those job seekers going west in search of work.
Omar Yaqub

This Just In: Job Recovery Rx: Worker Skill Training February 7, 2011 - 0 views

blogs.dc-intl.com/...just-in-job-recovery-rx-w.html

work trends competitiveness

shared by Omar Yaqub on 08 Feb 11 - Cached
  • Job Recovery Rx: Worker Skill Training
  • Neal Peirce’s latest Citistates column suggests that the solution to the U.S.’s impending talent shortage lies in targeted training programs in the country’s metro regions.
  • Cities are beginning to experiment with innovative pilot programs, including those like “Chicago Career Tech,” an intensive six-month, six-day-a-week course that retrains middle-class workers for technology careers.
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  • targeted efforts inside our metro regions.
  • Colleges and community colleges, for example, presumably produce graduates who can think, analyze, read manuals. “But they’re turning out people who can’t do anything” — as simple, Walshok suggests, as working with spreadsheets, building a website or describing a complex piece of technology like an iPad application. So targeted post-graduate job training becomes critical.
  • demand for science and engineering jobs has been growing by about 5 percent a year, and the country has an estimated 2 million jobs unfilled because of lack of job skills
  • “Chicago Career Tech,” for example, is a new program launched by Mayor Richard M. Daley to take in middle-class workers adrift in the current recession and retrain them for technology careers
  • welders. Close to 100 percent of welding school graduates get snapped up by industries spread from aircraft manufacturing and ship building to erecting and repairing bridges — not to mention mass transit and railways along with green industrioes such as building wind energy turbines.
  • twice as many welders are retiring as being trained — the U.S. shortage may be as high as 200,000, in a field that pays solid wages.
Omar Yaqub

Where the US will find growth and jobs - McKinsey Quarterly - Public Sector - Economic ... - 0 views

www.mckinseyquarterly.com/...will_find_growth_and_jobs_2544

us work trends

shared by Omar Yaqub on 17 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • Policy makers pinning their hopes on cutting-edge “clean” technologies to create jobs on a large scale are likely to be disappointed. Innovation in R&D-intensive sectors can play a vital role, enabling productivity gains and consumer benefits in the economy more broadly—think IT. But such sectors alone are simply too small to make an economy-wide difference in growth and employment.
  • In the past, it has too often been hit or miss because it was based solely on a macroeconomic view—whether one country is more competitive than another.
  • The quest for new jobs, for example, is much more likely to bear fruit in large local-business and household-services sectors, where regulation can have the most direct impact.
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  • From 1995 to 2005, service sectors generated all net job growth in high-income economies and 85 percent of net new jobs in emerging economies. Low-tech green jobs in local services, such as improving building insulation and replacing obsolete heating and cooling equipment, could generate more jobs than would be created through the development of renewable technologies.
Omar Yaqub

Canadian immigrants labour shortage - 0 views

www.canadianimmigrant.ca/...779

canadian work immigrants

shared by Omar Yaqub on 26 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • The labour shortage, particularly in industries like construction, means there are jobs that are not getting filled, while many immigrants are not getting jobs. Seems like it’s our immigration system that really needs the help
  • He was only half-kidding. Industries like construction, oil and gas, energy, transportation and manufacturing are reeling from a lack of unskilled labourers and skilled workers and tradespeople (i.e., welders, plumbers, electricians, sheet metal workers).
  • We’ve hired a couple of recent immigrants and they’ve worked out very well,” she adds. “It is production work so there is not a huge amount of communication involved, so it’s okay if their English isn’t yet the greatest.”
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  • Hiring temporary foreign workers has crossed her mind, but the thought of looking into the process overwhelms her. “It seems to have a lot of government red tape. We’ve all got so much on our plates right now, we’re all maxed out.”
  • Adding to that is the fact that hiring temporary foreign workers is inherently a short-term solution for a problem that has far-reaching effects. Even if the construction boom tapers off after 2010, the baby boomers will still be in retiring, and Canadians still won’t be making more babies, so it seems inevitable that the issue of worker shortages will keep arising
  • ratio of residents aged 65 and over to those of traditional working age (18–64) will rise from 20 per cent in 2006 to 46 per cent in 2050.
  • report by the Canadian Bar Association says temporary foreign workers are not meeting the needs of labour-hungry employers, because time is spent getting the person trained on the job, particularly where safety is concerned, and just when they are up to speed, employers have to start all over again with new workers.
  • Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) President Gil McGowan says the AFL supports more permanent immigration to Canada. “Bringing in temporary workers, who are very vulnerable to abuse and exploitation is no solution,”
  • “Immigration policy should be about building a stronger society, not about importing cheap labour to serve the short-term needs of employers.”
  • Canadian Construction Association (CCA) is advocating for an expanded temporary foreign workers program for the construction industry, it also recognizes it can’t be the sole solution.
  • labour crisis has been like a mirror held up to the immigration system, reflecting its many flaws. Thanks to the shortsighted “points” system to immigration sales offices that falsely “recruit” immigrant professionals (see Publisher’s Note on page 3), the Canadian immigration system has lost sight of what Canada needs, how Canada works, and how to make immigration policies sophisticated and flexible enough to reflect these things.
  • In B.C., the provincial government is trying to do its part to fill its labour gap, partly by subsidizing the new Skills Connect for Immigrants programs that help skilled immigrants enter positions equivalent to their qualifications in such hot industries as construction, transportation, energy and tourism.
  • Six service providers have been chosen to administer the program, including ASPECT, Back in Motion, Camosun College, Douglas College, Multicultural Helping House Society and Surrey Delta Immigrant Services Society (SDISS).
  • “If immigrants move to B.C. to work in a field where there is a shortage, then we need to help them get their training and credentials recognized [through these programs],” says Minister of Economic Development Colin Hansen
  • Number 1 is career assessment, which includes credential and language evaluations. Number 2 is skills enhancement services. “For example, if a participant wants to go into CAD construction and wants to top up his training, we can help arrange that,” she says. Number 3 is a workplace practicum, which allows them to get a little Canadian experience.
  • “Although it’s not the end focus of our Arrive B.C. program, the largest gap is labourers,”
  • Proactive Personnel (www.proactivepersonnel.ca).
  • Omar Yaqub on 26 Apr 11
     
    The labour shortage, particularly in industries like construction, means there are jobs that are not getting filled, while many immigrants are not getting jobs. Seems like it's our immigration system that really needs the help
Omar Yaqub

Importing Foreign Workers- The Basics - 0 views

www.singleton.com/...reign_Workers-_The_Basics.aspx

work immigrants

shared by Omar Yaqub on 02 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • Canada has agreed to the inclusion of the following service sectors in the GATS agreement: business services, communication services, construction services, distribution services, environmental services, financial services, tourism and travel related services and transport services.
  • A GATS professional is one who seeks to engage, as part of a services contract, in an activity at a professional level, provided that the person possesses the necessary credentials and qualifications. There are nine accepted professions under GATS:
  • • engineers; • agrologists; • architects; • forestry professionals; • geomatics professionals; • land surveyors; • legal consultants; • urban planners; and • senior computer specialists.
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  • Under GATS professionals may only work in Canada for a period of 90 days in any 12 month period
  • Spouses Spouses (including common-law partners) of temporary foreign workers can apply for a work permit without a confirmation from HRSDC, provided that the principal applicant is authorized by a work permit to work in Canada for at least six months. Initial this category was only available for spouses of skilled workers but recently it has been expanded to cover spouses of any temporary worker. The spouse of a temporary worker may apply for an open work permit, which allows the spouse to accept almost any job. The spouse's work permit will expire when the principal applicant's work permit expires.
  • As a general rule, a person who is not a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident must hold a valid work permit in order to work in Canada. Work permits are issued by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (“CIC”). Further, as a general rule, prior to the CIC issuing a work permit, the employer must receive a confirmation of employment from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (“HRSDC”). This confirmation of employment is referred to as a “Labour Market Opinion” (“LMO”).
  • Foreign workers may also require a temporary resident visa to work in Canada; however, citizens and permanent residents of the U.S. are exempt from this requirement.
  • Under Canadian immigration law, it is the worker who must apply for and receive the work permit.
  • foreign worker must submit to CIC a copy of the HRSDC confirmation of employment and a detailed description of the employment offer (provided by the employer). There is a non-refundable fee of C$150 for processing an application for an individual work permit.
  • worker may apply for a work permit before entering Canada, at a port of entry or from inside Canada, depending on the worker's status
  • Generally, temporary foreign workers must apply for a work permit before departing for Canada, although the actual work permit will be printed and given to the foreign worker at the port of entry when he/she enters Canada.
  • If the foreign worker is from the U.S. or if the foreign worker does not need a temporary resident visa to visit Canada and an exemption is available from the requirement to obtain a confirmation of employment
  • the foreign worker is prohibited from applying for a work permit until his or her arrival at a port of entry.
  • If the applicant has been working in Canada for at least three months under an exemption, other than as a business visitor, but wants a permit to accept another job the foreign worker can apply for a work permit while already located in Canada
  • The worker is expected to abide by the terms and conditions set out in the work permit. Work permits are valid only for a specified job, employer and time period. However, workers can apply to the CIC to modify or extend their work permit. An application to extend a work permit should be made at least 3 months prior to the permit's expiry.
  • It is currently taking CIC over 117 days to process an application to renew or to change the terms and conditions of entry to Canada
  • Once the application is submitted the foreign worker can continue in employment pending approval of the extension, as long as they remain in Canada while that application is pending.
  • If the employer dismisses the foreign worker, the employee must apply to change their status to a visitor or find a new employer and apply to change the work permit to that new employer. There is no positive obligation on any employer to report the change in employment status to Immigration
  • Confirmation of Employment As a prerequisite to issuing a work permit, an immigration officer will generally require a Labour Market Opinion or a "confirmation of employment" from HRSDC. An employer who wishes to hire a temporary foreign worker is responsible for having the job offer validated by HRSDC. HRSDC will base its confirmation of employment on the following factors:
  • guidelines introduced by Service Canada for minimal recruitment efforts are as follows and are strictly adhered to:
  • NOC O and A Occupations You will have conducted the minimum advertising efforts required if you: • Conduct recruitment activities consistent with the practice within the occupation (e.g., advertise on recognized Internet job sites, in journals, newsletters or national newspapers or by consulting unions or professional associations); or • Advertise on the national Job Bank (or the equivalent in Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan or the Northwest Territories) for a minimum of fourteen (14) calendar days, during the three (3) months prior to applying for a LMO
  • If HRSDC is satisfied that the employment offer to a foreign national will not adversely impact the Canadian labour market, it will issue a confirmation of employment or LMO to the employer and enter the confirmation of employment into a database that can be accessed by immigration officials.
  • The employer then generally sends the foreign worker a copy of the LMO, as well as a detailed employment offer to be presented to immigration officials when the worker applies for his/her work permit at an overseas Canadian Consulate or upon the worker's arrival at a port of entry, if the worker is coming from a country that is visa exempt. Upon receipt of the HRSDC confirmation, immigration officials will decide if the foreign worker otherwise qualifies for a work permit.
  • confirmation process through HRSDC is a distinct stage from that of the work permit issuance by CIC. Currently the processing time at HRSDC is estimated at 3 to 5 weeks after receipt of acknowledgement of the application. Acknowledgements of receipt are currently taking 2 to 3 weeks.
  • Workers who require a work permit but not a confirmation of employment include those who are found to provide a significant benefit to Canada, spouses of temporary foreign workers, information technology workers, graduate students under a specialized work program and those who qualify for exemptions under NAFTA and GATS.
  • a 4 year cap on LMOs and an expiry date so foreign workers must rely on it within 6 months of issue or new recruiting efforts will be required.
Omar Yaqub

Why Are Some Cities Happier Than Others? | www.theatlantic.com | Readability - 0 views

www.readability.com/...yepsuhkv

happiness

shared by Omar Yaqub on 23 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • My own research has documented the connection between a large-scale presence of the creative class of workers -- people who work in science and technology; business and management; arts, culture and entertainment; medicine and education -- and the prosperity of cities. But it's about more than prosperity. Once a certain threshold of income is met, our research finds, the work people do plays a substantial role in their happiness, over and above the effect of income at the national6, state7, and city8 levels. Our findings here reinforce and confirm this conclusion. There is a substantial positive correlation between city happiness and the share of creative class jobs (.5) and a significant negative one between well-being and the share of working class jobs (-.4).
  • composition of city job markets plays a considerable role in our sense of well-being as well.
  • cities with more blue-collar economies have been among the hardest hit by the economic crisis. Unemployment is high, incomes are lower.  Workers in these kinds of jobs have faced much greater trouble finding new jobs (the unemployment rate for production workers is 10 percent; for construction workers it tops 20 percent). Not only do these workers have skills and incomes which are tied to their specific jobs, many in these areas are trapped in underwater homes and unable to relocate to areas with more work and greater opportunity:  Hardly a recipe for happiness
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Americans are divided by their sense of happiness and well-being as well. Along with everything else that polarizes us, America increasingly faces an increasingly unequal geography of class and happiness.
Omar Yaqub

Hiring Skilled Workers and Supporting their Permanent Immigration - 0 views

www.hrsdc.gc.ca/...poarremp.shtml

work immigrants

shared by Omar Yaqub on 24 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • Hiring Steps Make a permanent offer in a skilled occupation to the Skilled Worker and submit an application for an Arranged Employment Opinion - Updated (EMP5275) Employers using a third party representative must complete the "Annex to the Appointment of Representative" form and send it with the AEO application. Send the application form to: Service Canada
  • An arranged employment opinion (AEO) is based on these factors : The job offer is permanent; The job offer is genuine; The wages and working conditions offered for the job are comparable to those offered to Canadians working in the occupation; The employment is full-time, not seasonal.
  • HRSDC reviews the application and if appropriate, provides you with an AEO letter of confirmation supporting the job. Please be aware that a positive HRSDC AEO letter only supports the Skilled Worker's application for permanent residency, but does not allow for the person to work in Canada. There is another process if you plan to employ the person and, at the same time, support their permanent immigration to Canada.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • You send a copy of the AEO letter to the Skilled Worker. Tell the person to apply to the appropriate visa office for a  Skilled Worker permanent resident visa. Tell the Skilled Worker to include your written permanent job offer and the AEO letter of confirmation with the permanent resident application, along with other documentation required by CIC. The application is point-rated and these documents improve the Foreign Worker's score and the opportunity to receive a permanent resident visa
  • Omar Yaqub on 24 Feb 12
     
    Hiring Skilled Workers and Supporting their Permanent Immigration
Omar Yaqub

Job Descriptions: An Employers' Handbook (NOC) - 0 views

www5.hrsdc.gc.ca/...JobDescriptions.aspx

work canada GoC pay

shared by Omar Yaqub on 29 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • Omar Yaqub on 29 Nov 10
     
    Introduction to Job Descriptions\n\nincludes information on pay rates by job, sector, etc.
Omar Yaqub

Report Backs Up the Idea That College Shouldn't Be the Goal - Education - GOOD - 0 views

www.good.is/...ldn-t-be-the-goal-of-education

education

shared by Omar Yaqub on 03 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • Is President Obama's laser-like focus on students going to and graduating from college all wrong?
  • According to a team researchers out of Harvard, yes. The just-released "Pathways to Prosperity" (PDF) report claims that instead of making college the ultimate goal, students actually need vocational education for so-called blue collar professions.
  • Forty-seven million new jobs will be created by 2018, and although almost two-thirds will require some education beyond high school, they won't all require a college degree. Some of the fastest growing jobs—like construction worker, electrician, dental hygienist, police officer, or home health care aide—only require vocational certificates or specialized training.
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  • 27 percent of current blue collar work actually pays more than many jobs that require bachelor's degree
  • narrow-minded focus on college might make more kids drop out of high school.
  • solution is for American schools to move to a more European model where students get career counseling and skill-building job opportunities in middle school
  • something does need to shift in the way we educate youth and prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow.
Omar Yaqub

Scary: There Are Now Five Job Seekers for Every Job Opening - Culture - GOOD - 0 views

www.good.is/...-seekers-for-every-job-opening

work trends

shared by Omar Yaqub on 23 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • We told you before that research shows America's long-term unemployed citizens frequently end up depressed, dejected, and more unlikely to look for jobs as time drags on
Omar Yaqub

http://employment.alberta.ca/documents/tfw-annexb-occ-sp-steam-pipe.pdf - 0 views

employment.alberta.ca/...w-annexb-occ-sp-steam-pipe.pdf

work immigrants alberta tfw

shared by Omar Yaqub on 09 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • Omar Yaqub on 09 Apr 12
     
    Canada-Alberta Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) Annex Pilot on Occupation Specific Work Permits   Steamfitter-Pipefitter Background The TFW Annex is an addition to the Agreement for Canada-Alberta Cooperation on  Immigration. The Annex includes an agreement to implement a number of pilots.  One of the pilots allows Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) to issue an  occupation-specific work permit for TFWs working in Alberta in the steamfitterpipefitter trade (NOC 7252). Initially, this permit allows TFWs to be employed for up  to one year by one employer or a Group of Employers recognized by CIC and  Human Resources and Skill Development Canada while working toward trade  certification.  Once certified, foreign workers can apply for a two-year open work permit, allowing  them to move between employers without the employer applying for a labour market  opinion. Eligibility Steamfitter-pipefitter is a compulsory trade in Alberta.  To work in this occupation,  TFWs need a job offer from an employer and an approval letter from Alberta  Apprenticeship and Industry Training (AIT) for the Qualification Certificate Program  before they come to Alberta. More information on the AIT certification requirements  to work in a trade in Alberta can be found at www.tradesecrets.alberta.ca.  For applicants who are not currently trade certified, work permits will be issued for  one year allowing the foreign worker time to become certified under the Qualification  Certificate Program. Once certified, CIC will issue an open work permit for an  additional two-year period.  TFWs currently certified and working in the steamfitter-pipefitter trade in Alberta are  eligible to apply for the two-year open work permit before the expiry of their current  work permit. The job letter from the employer must indicate a wage that is consistent with the  prevailing wage paid to Canadians in the same occupation in Alberta and that the  working conditions for the occupation meet
Omar Yaqub

Operational Bulletin 279-B - May 31, 2011 - 0 views

www.cic.gc.ca/...ob279B.asp

work immigrants alberta tfw

shared by Omar Yaqub on 05 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • Foreign nationals who are entering Canada and destined to Alberta as TFWs, and who have an initial job offer from an Alberta employer (or an Alberta employer making a job offer on behalf of a recognized Group of Employers (GoE) under the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC)-Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) GoE Pilot in the Steamfitter-Pipefitter occupation—National Occupational Classification 7252; or, TFWs certified and currently working in the steamfitter/pipefitter trade in Alberta.
  • Steamfitter-Pipefitter is a compulsory trade in Alberta. Therefore, the uncertified TFW must have an approved application and an approval letter from Alberta Apprenticeship and Industry Training (AAIT) for the Qualification Certification Program prior to arrival in Canada (see sample in Appendix A). Information related to the Qualification Certificate Program can be found at www.tradesecrets.alberta.ca.
  • A one-year employer-specific WP, specific to the Steamfitter-Pipefitter occupation and based on a job offer from a named employer, or an employer making a job offer on behalf of a recognized GoE under the CIC-HRSDC GoE Pilot, may be granted to a foreign national as described above upon application (including payment of the appropriate fee) and without requiring an LMO.
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  • advise officers of a Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) pilot project effective in the Province of Alberta, allowing foreign nationals coming to Canada to work temporarily in a specific occupation and to be issued a Work Permit (WP) without requiring a Labour Market Opinion (LMO) from Service Canada
  • LMO Exemption Code is T13 in conjunction with R204(c) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations—“an agreement entered into by the Minister with a province or group of provinces under subsection 8(1) of the Act”. This code must be used on the initial one-year WP and the subsequent two-year open WP.
  • oth the initial WP and the subsequent open WP should indicate in the “Province” field and in the printed “Conditions” that it is only valid for work performed in the province of Alberta and in the Steamfitter-Pipefitter occupation.
Omar Yaqub

Canada new magnet for U.S. job hunters - The Globe and Mail - 0 views

www.theglobeandmail.com/...singlepage

us Work statistics

shared by Omar Yaqub on 28 Nov 11 - No Cached
  • Canada’s stronger economy is becoming a magnet for Americans hunting for work.
  • 14 million Americans are out of work – the equivalent of more than 40 per cent of Canada’s population. On the other side, some employers – particularly in Alberta’s oil sector – say they can’t find enough skilled workers, prompting the country’s federal immigration minister to publicly muse last month on how to admit more skilled Americans.
  • Luring skilled American workers to Canada is on the federal government’s radar, as well. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney recently noted Canada could do more to tap into America’s skilled labour market.“We are looking at ways … that we could do a better job of accessing unemployed American labour,” he told the Calgary Chamber of Commerce last month. “We think particularly in the energy industry, that might be a significant solution to some of the emerging labour market shortages.
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  • The U.S. has ranked first among homelands for temporary foreign workers in Canada since 2008. Last year, the number of American citizens applying for temporary work permits doubled to 4,024, from 1,974 applications in 2008.
Omar Yaqub

Foreign Qualifications for Jobs in Canada - 0 views

www.welcomebc.ca/...index.page

work bc immigrants

shared by Omar Yaqub on 24 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • The assessment process In regulated occupations: The first step is to contact the relevant regulatory authority to determine what they need from you, and to discuss expected costs, timelines, and other requirements.
  • Some things that may be required during the assessment processes are: Complete an application form and provide necessary documentation.Required documents vary depending on the occupation; however, they often include educational transcripts, reliable references, employment history, resumé, and completed application form. Have your educational credentials assessed.Some regulatory authorities will perform the assessment of educational credentials internally. Others use external organizations to do this.The International Credential Evaluation Service (ICES) will assess your credentials (education) on a fee-for-service basis; however, an ICES assessment is not always required. Before paying to have your credentials assessed by ICES, contact the relevant regulatory authority to find out what they require. Regulatory authorities may also assess other aspects of your qualifications, using some of the following approaches: Verifying previous work experience by contacting work references Practical assessment of job-related competencies Oral interview with applicant to verify information and to determine job-related capabilities As part of the assessment process, you will likely be required to: Take exams Pay fees Provide additional documentation or clarify information upon request
  • The total cost for the assessment process varies, depending on the occupation and the regulatory authority’s requirements. You can expect to pay anywhere from a few hundred dollars to several thousand. The length of time that the certification process takes also varies depending on the occupation—anywhere from a few weeks to several months. It is recommended that you contact the appropriate regulatory authority (PDF - 94KB) prior to arriving in BC, or as soon as possible after you have arrived, in order to determine the process and requirements for the occupation in which you would like to work. To assist you in determining which regulatory authority is responsible for your occupation open the following: www.tilma.ca/pdf/BCRegulatoryAuthorities.pdf
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  • Upgrading options If a regulatory authority or employers require that you upgrade your qualifications in order to become certified and/or employer, there are a few options to consider if you require assistance: Regulatory authorities often have links with specialized educational or “bridging” programs within educational institutions that will assist individuals with international qualifications. Services to support language upgrading can be found on this website. You can contact post-secondary institutions directly. Check out the Skills Connect for Immigrants Program – an individualized employment bridging program providing assistance with the assessment and career planning process, skill upgrading, workplace language supports and workplace practice opportunities. Contact the InfoCentre for Skilled Immigrants. Contact your local settlement agency.
  • In non-regulated occupations: Since employers decide whether your qualifications will match the requirements for a specific job, you should check with the employer that you are looking to work for to determine whether an independent assessment of your educational credentials or past work experience will be required. Employers will be able to give you information regarding the requirements for demonstrating that your qualifications will be accepted for a specific position in BC
  • Prepare You can do as much research as soon as possible to learn: if your desired occupation is regulated, and, if so, you can learn about the occupational standards that you must meet in order to become certified about any requirements necessary to become certified or employed about the various employers that can be found within your desired occupation or sector
  • Pan-Canadian Framework for the Assessment and Recognition of Foreign Qualifications In cooperation with other provinces, territories, and the federal government, British Columbia has recently announced a pan-Canadian framework to improve the recognition of qualifications for immigrants coming to the province to seek work in regulated occupations. The framework is designed to make Foreign Qualifications Recognition process faster, fairer, more transparent, and consistent across the country; getting you working much sooner. This framework will result in a number of changes, including: better information to help you prepare for qualifications assessments more ways to begin the qualifications assessment process before you get here faster and cost effective processes for assessment opportunities for upgrading your qualifications more support to individuals like yourself and employers
Omar Yaqub

Frequently asked questions: Working temporarily in Canada - 0 views

www.cic.gc.ca/...index.asp

work spouses immigrants

shared by Omar Yaqub on 24 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • Your spouse or common-law partner and children can come with you to Canada or visit you in Canada, but they must meet all the requirements for temporary residents to Canada: they must satisfy an officer that they will only stay in Canada temporarily, and they may have to prove that they have no criminal record. If your spouse or common-law partner and children need temporary resident visas, they must also meet all the conditions for obtaining those visas.
  • If your family members want to follow you to Canada later, they must each fill out a separate application form
  • Can my spouse or common-law partner work in Canada?
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  • If your spouse or common-law partner wants to work while in Canada, they must apply for their own work permit. Normally, they must meet the same requirements that you do, including obtaining (if needed) a labour market opinion from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
  • However, your spouse or common-law partner may be eligible to apply for an “open” work permit that will allow her or him to accept any job with any employer if you meet the conditions outlined below
  • A. You are authorized to work in Canada for six months or longer and the work you are doing while you live in Canada meets a minimum skill level (usually work that would require at least a college diploma). Specifically, your job must be listed in Skill Level 0, A or B
  • If you are the holder of a Post-Graduation Work Permit, which is a type of open work permit, your spouse will need to attach a copy of your work permit to his or her application for an open work permit. Your spouse will also need to provide information about your employment by attaching supporting documents, including: A letter from your current employer confirming employment or a copy of your employment offer or contract; AND A copy of one of your pay slips.
  • B. You are authorized to work in Canada and your spouse or common-law partner is eligible for a work permit through an active pilot projec
  • In each of the above cases, your spouse’s permit will be valid for the same period as yours.
  • If you meet these requirements, your spouse may apply for an open work permit. Your spouse’s permit will be valid for the same period as your authorization to work in Canada. If your job does not fall within the categories listed above, your spouse may still apply for a work permit, but it will have to be for a specific job and in most cases, the employer will have to obtain a labour market opinion (the normal authorization required for the employer to hire you) from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada.
  • In some cases, your spouse or partner will need a medical examination.
  • If they have not already applied overseas, spouses and partners may apply for their work permit from within Canada.
  • Can my dependent children work in Canada? Can my dependent children work in Canada? If your dependent children want to work while in Canada, they must apply for their own work permit
  • Normally, they must meet the same requirements that you do, including (if needed) a labour market opinion (LMO) from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada.
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