Jobs Not Good Enough

[Rockslinger]

Some of you may know that Catherine Swift has retired from the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses. I saw her successor, Dan Kelly, interviewed on BNN yesterday. He said that many jobs in Canada go unfilled because indigenous Canadians consider it beneath them. Hence, the need to hire migrant/foreign workers.

Do you think that jobs that Canadians don't consider "good enough" should be done by foreign workers such as farm work, nannies, housekeeping, construction, fast food, etc.? If not "good enough" for Canadians, why would we think they are good enough for foreigners?

 

[afterhours]

If not "good enough" for Canadians, why would we think they are good enough for foreigners?

poor people should work for rich people, everything else is communist propaganda.

 

[MattRoxx]

Labelling them as 'not good enough' oversimplifies matters.
Farm work should be done by foreign, migrant workers because of the conditions (ie when the work day is done you don't go home; you stay onsite in cheap housing until the next day of work) and it is seasonal. Planting and picking is not a career for a Canadian; the season is far too short but a Mexican could work here for the summer and then for instance in the southern USA afterwards, or go back home where his earning would last longer than in Canada
.
No one goes to school with the aspiration to become a great fruit picker.

The pay is often minimum wage or close to it, and the employers actually prefer foreign workers who will put up with questionable working conditions that a Canadian employee would lodge official complaints about.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2012/02/07/f-migrant-workers-rules.html

Nannies and housekeepers - unskilled jobs for new immigrants. A Canadian interested in this sort of work would not put up with the long hours at minimum wage and instead would likely get into some kind of nursing or physiotherapy program and get accreditation to make a career of it.

Fast food - I can't remember the last time I was in one of those place but I thought they were staffed mostly by local high school kids.

 

[Buick Mackane]

Canadians aren't qualified to pick fruit, there's a skill involved in doing it quickly and without bruising.
We need a school system that will teach this trade.

 

[canada-man]

who would go to school to train for a job which is only seasonal?

 

[kkelso]

How does being on public assistance in Canada compare to working a minimum wage job? Here in the states some of the folks I counsel are pretty up front about "why work my ass off when I can make 80% of the money sitting on it?" Hard not to see their point.

KK

 

[Buick Mackane]

who would go to school to train for a job which is only seasonal?

Hungry people, let them eat all they want as a perk.

 

[mur11]

Some of you may know that Catherine Swift has retired from the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses. I saw her successor, Dan Kelly, interviewed on BNN yesterday. He said that many jobs in Canada go unfilled because indigenous Canadians consider it beneath them. Hence, the need to hire migrant/foreign workers.

Do you think that jobs that Canadians don't consider "good enough" should be done by foreign workers such as farm work, nannies, housekeeping, construction, fast food, etc.? If not "good enough" for Canadians, why would we think they are good enough for foreigners?

I think you should get a job picking fruit
Since clearly you don't have another productive job, you should become a strawberry picker. It's honorable work, and plus it gets you in the open air, away from a computer and TERB which is good for all of us, especially TERBites who like strawberries

 

[gdurham]

picking fruits and veggies is shitty work. it is hard and the pay is low. migrants do it because they are not lazy, and by comparison the money is OK to them.

the mexicans start up here, then move down thru the states and then end up back home.

why would a citizen do that when they can go on welfare?

 

[simon482]

i could solve the lack of jobs issue but i can't solve the entitled age we live in now. everyone wants an entry level management/presidents position. i heard that EI is being cut off or the amount of time you can be on it is being cut down because there are jobs available. take a shit job to get a paycheck while you look for the right job. seems like a smart thing to do.

 

[simon482]

How does being on public assistance in Canada compare to working a minimum wage job? Here in the states some of the folks I counsel are pretty up front about "why work my ass off when I can make 80% of the money sitting on it?" Hard not to see their point.

KK

cuz they are lying to you. they don't make 80% of the wage they would get from a min wage job on welfare unless they were doing cash jobs on the side which most do.

 

[Rockslinger]

i heard that EI is being cut off or the amount of time you can be on it is being cut down because there are jobs available. take a shit job to get a paycheck while you look for the right job. seems like a smart thing to do.

Yes, I heard that EI is being revamped so that unemployed folks can't be so picky about which jobs they will accept.

 

[harryass]

some people are just frickin lazy, hang around downtown askin for change and expect handouts all the time and expect some program or charity to take care of them frickin uselesss turds.

 

[healer677]

I find it ironic that nannies - raising a child - are considered unskilled.

 

[JustAFan]

Some of you may know that Catherine Swift has retired from the Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses. I saw her successor, Dan Kelly, interviewed on BNN yesterday. He said that many jobs in Canada go unfilled because indigenous Canadians consider it beneath them. Hence, the need to hire migrant/foreign workers.

Do you think that jobs that Canadians don't consider "good enough" should be done by foreign workers such as farm work, nannies, housekeeping, construction, fast food, etc.? If not "good enough" for Canadians, why would we think they are good enough for foreigners?

My first job in Canada was a summer student job at Queen's Park. Yes it was a government job but the pay was $80 per week. To save enough money to pay for my first year at University of Toronto I needed a part-time job. I washed dishes in the kitchen and cleaned floors and washrooms at the old Ponderosa Steakhouse (at Kipling and #401). Pay? I got lucky and got paid $1.80 an hour (the employer thought they hired a youth worker at a lower rate because I looked young).

I enjoyed both jobs and saved enough money for the freshman year. And eventually graduated and worked couple of years to save enough to start out my own business.

Looking back, if I didn't take the lowly dishwasher job I would had never been able to start my college and be what I am to-day.

Yes I was not even a landed immigrant. I was just a foreign student. (Back then in 1972 we the foreigners were still able to work and apply landed immigrant status without leaving the country first) I guess we didn't mind to take jobs which were not good enough for Canadians.

But nowadays, couple thousand Canadian people on and off, counting on me to help them out for healthy income.

The moral of the story is: Don't look down on any lowly jobs because the wage you earn and experience you learn maybe one day very helpful for your future.

 

[MattRoxx]

i could solve the lack of jobs issue but i can't solve the entitled age we live in now.

I know what you mean! Too many employers feel that they are entitled to pay the lowest wage possible while cutting back on workplace safety and benefits. There isn't a lack of jobs, but a lack of people filling them, and paying a better wage would certainly motivate more people to take the work.

I find it ironic that nannies - raising a child - are considered unskilled.

These days people aren't looking for Mary Poppins to raise their children, educate them and instill them with values. They want a cheap babysitter who will clean up, change diapers and push a stroller for minimum wage or less (eg minimum wage minus "room and board").
There is a great deal of exploitation going on by employers and sponsors of temporary foreign workers and those seeking permanent residence in Canada.

 

[shrek71]

I also think that part of the issue with the "jobs not good enough" is that many employers won't hire someone that is grossly overqualified for a position. For example, when the economic downturn first hit, a local TV news story about warehouse jobs was aired. There was one position and 200 or so people applied. The company was rather frank and said they didn't want to hire someone grossly overqualified as they quit as soon as a better opportunity came along and their time invested in training them would be wasted.

So it's not like the unemployed are being overly picky about what jobs to take. It's also the employers being overly picky about who they hire.

Cheers

 

[CapitalGuy]

I know what you mean! Too many employers feel that they are entitled to pay the lowest wage possible while cutting back on workplace safety and benefits. There isn't a lack of jobs, but a lack of people filling them, and paying a better wage would certainly motivate more people to take the work.
.

No, paying more money just makes people want still more (money, benefits, time off, name it).

 

[mexican]

Guest workes in the Niagara area are very important to the economy. We would not have much of a wine industry without them. The working conditions may not be that great - but much better than in Mexico and in the US. Their work creates higher value work in the wine industry - marketing, production etc.

I think the system works well for all parties - many of the workers come back year after year. It is seasonal work - so it is not attractive to Canadians. But it is crucial for the wine companies.

I think that there should be far more training in the trades - carpenters, plumbers, welders, tool & die etc. These trades can be very lucrative but because they are "blue collar" students are discouraged to pursue. A good, experienced carpenter can easy clear $100k. Nothing wrong with that.

There actually is not a training program in Canada to become a butcher. A good butcher - at least $60 K and over $100 if he owns his store. All are either trained at work or are foreigners. What is wrong with being a butcher?

 

[bazokajoe]

I hate the fact that someone thinks that a certain type of work is beneath them.If it pays the bills why is it beneath you? People are full of themselves if they look down at people that work at farms,janitors,nannies,garbage men.
How fast do you people complain about garbage strikes,dirty unkept offices?
Face it,some people aren't blessed with a good education,or just the "brains" to be lawyers,bankers.When your toilet backs up your calling the guy with a high school education to fix it.I know many trades people and they the best friends you will ever need.
Stop looking down at people with low wage jobs.We were all there at least once in our life.