Friday, November 23, 2012
The Vicious Cycle
Politicians always think they know better than everybody else.
Pradip Rodrigues writing at Canindia.com
I recently wrote about Canada’s phantom jobs and questioned the idea of bringing in more immigrants to plug labour shortages at a time when our unemployment rate is stubbornly stuck at 7.2 percent. More troubling is the 16 percent unemployment rate among the 15-24 age group, many of whom are recent college graduates and post-graduate degree holders. Besides finding themselves unemployed after years in university, these degree holders are left making payments toward their student debt. Tuition at universities have jumped 300 percent in the last 20 years and by next year national student loan limit will hit the $15 billion dollar limit on outstanding federal student loans. Young Canadians and their parents are naturally angry and frustrated at this turn of events. Some Canadian born, raised and educated young people who can’t find work in their fields are now considering getting into organic farming instead.
Meanwhile politicians and business leaders are constantly raising concerns about the current and worsening shortage of skilled labour that will affect our economy. To address this issue, they talk endlessly about the need to bring in skilled immigrants, overlooking the possibility of re-training thousands of unemployed Canadians who have lost jobs in manufacturing or training the legions of unemployed and underemployed college graduates. Meanwhile when asked about why young Canadians are not finding jobs, they talk about baby boomers who are opting to work longer and blocking the career paths for the youth. But talk to these boomers and many of them will tell you they are still working because their adult college educated children are unemployed and living at home. This is quite the vicious cycle..........
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Perhaps what I am going to describe is not the norm but I do see too many young men just coasting through high school, slouching around with they caps on backwards and seemingly aimless and devoid of energy and ambition, more interested in getting their next joint.
ReplyDeleteMaybe if college students would stop listening to the left wing guidance councillors and stop taking social and arts because they're easy and start studying for jobs in demand they would be better. All the government social engineering jobs are full.
ReplyDeleteWhat idiotic drivel. How does a degree in some soft arts courses, parrotting the professors' predjudices, qualify a person for any real job? I feel sorry for the kids: they were seriously misled as to the 'value' of a university degree and now - with no saleable skills - have serious debts. Better they had gone to the local polytech and pursued a trade because - and make no mistake about this - the people being imported under these schemes are either journeyman tradespersons or have other skills valuable to employers.
ReplyDeleteI know for a fact that if I was a young man out of college or university and my skill sets were not getting me a job in this economic environment, I would take up one of the minimum wage jobs on some farm somewhere, for at least a year. I would think of it as an adventure. If we are to believe the numerous articles and employment news online, the farmers are hiring all over the country. They are forced to bring in workers from down south because we are told over and over again that our youth or the unemployed Canadians are not keen on taking on minimum wage jobs. I somehow find that so hard to believe. Would it be that the parents are not instilling a work ethic .... for any kind of work, in their kids?
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