Work, Economy and Organizations Commons^™

Vulnerable Young Adults’ Entry Into Full-Time Work: An Analysis Using The Canadian Survey Of Labour And Income Dynamics, Zenaida R. Ravanera, Juyan Wang, Beaujot Roderic, Jianye Liu

Population Change and Lifecourse Strategic Knowledge Cluster Discussion Paper Series/ Un Réseau stratégique de connaissances Changements de population et parcours de vie Document de travail

This study examines the entry into first full-time work of Canadians aged 18 to 29 with focus on the influence of parental socio-economic status and characteristics of communities where respondents reside. We find that the youth with middle SES parents start full-time work at younger age than those with low or high parental SES. As for community and area effects, the youth in more vulnerable communities have lower likelihood of full-time employment, while these odds are highest in the Prairies. Furthermore, parental SES influences the magnitude of the effects of individual and community characteristics. Except for gender, age, and education, …

Enriching Or Discouraging? Competing Pictures Of Aging And Paid Work In Later Life, Rebecca Casey, Ellie Berger

Population Change and Lifecourse Strategic Knowledge Cluster Discussion Paper Series/ Un Réseau stratégique de connaissances Changements de population et parcours de vie Document de travail

The picture and experience of work and retirement are continuously changing in Canada and will likely continue to change into the future with the aging of the population. There are two pictures of work in older age presented in the literature: a positive and enriching picture and a picture that highlights the challenges facing some older workers. The positive and enriching picture focuses on the experiences of older individuals who are able to continue working if they want to work and are able to work; those who continue working because they are motivated by work rather than pay or new …

Policy Brief No. 19 - Caregiver Assessment: An Essential Component Of Continuing Care Policy, Janice Keefe, Nancy Guberman, Pamela Fancey, Lucy Barylak

Population Change and Lifecourse Strategic Knowledge Cluster Research/Policy Brief

Family and friend caregivers are the backbone of Canada’s health and social care systems. The support they provide is indispensable in enabling individuals with long-term health issues to remain in their communities. Caregivers take on a challenging role—one that can impact their physical and mental health, social activities, personal finances, employment and relationships (Health Council of Canada, 2012; Keefe, 2011). Caregivers’ health and wellbeing has repercussions for the care recipient, their family, their communities and the health care system. To support this critical role, caregivers need to be understood as partners in care, but also as potential individual clients of …

Policy Brief No. 16 - Annual Levels Of Immigration And Immigrant Entry Earnings In Canada, Feng Hou, Garnett Picot

Population Change and Lifecourse Strategic Knowledge Cluster Research/Policy Brief

The annual level of immigration is a critical component of a country’s immigration policy. This study considers the influence of immigration levels on immigrant entry earnings in Canada. We find that from 1982-2010, a 10% increase in the size of a cohort of entering immigrants is associated with a 0.8% decline in entry earnings among immigrant men from that cohort, and a 0.3% earnings decline among immigrant women.

Policy Brief No. 15 - Quebec, Daycare, And Household Strategies Of Couples With Young Children, Glenn Stalker, Michael Ornstein

Population Change and Lifecourse Strategic Knowledge Cluster Research/Policy Brief

In 1997, Quebec adopted a policy providing universal pre-school daycare for five dollars per day. Comparing Quebec to the rest of Canada, we use 1996, 2001, and 2006 Canadian census data to determine the impact of this policy on couples’ strategies for combining employment and child care. We find that, in addition to increasing mothers’ labour force participation, the policy reduced the number of families in Quebec with a traditional division of labour, particularly for common-law couples. However, we also find that the policy does not increase the proportion of families with egalitarian work and child care arrangements.

Policy Brief No. 14 - The Underutilization Of Immigrant Skills: Trends And Policy Issues, Jeffrey G. Reitz, Josh Curtis, Jennifer Elrick

Population Change and Lifecourse Strategic Knowledge Cluster Research/Policy Brief

Since 1996, the problem of underutilization of immigrant skills in Canada has grown significantly. University-educated immigrants are more numerous, yet our census analysis shows that their access to skilled occupations in the professions and management declined between 1996 and 2006. In these years, the value of work lost to the Canadian economy from immigrant skill underutilization grew from about $4.80 billion to $11.37 billion, annually. Given the significance of immigration for economic development, the evaluation of current policies and consideration of future directions seem urgent.

Policy Brief No. 13 - Future Canadian Workers: More Educated And More Culturally Diversified, Alain Bélanger, Nicolas Bastien

Population Change and Lifecourse Strategic Knowledge Cluster Research/Policy Brief

This article charts the future transformations of the Canadian labor force population using a microsimulation projection model. The model takes into account differentials in demographic behavior and labor force participation of individuals according to their ethnocultural and educational characteristics. Results of the microsimulation show that Canada's labor force population will continue to increase, but at a slower rate than in the recent past. By 2031, almost one third of the country's total labor force could be foreign-born, and almost all its future increase is expected to be fueled by university graduates, while the less-educated labor force is projected to decline. …

Research Brief No. 17 - Rethinking Retirement, David K. Foot, Rosemary A. Venne

Population Change and Lifecourse Strategic Knowledge Cluster Research/Policy Brief

Current pension policies in Canada do not take into account rising life expectancy. A Canadian worker in 1950 who retired at age 65 could expect to live 4 years in retirement. In 2006, a Canadian retiring at age 65 can now expect to have 16 years in retirement. Older workers can be a valuable resource with their years of experience that can be used to train younger replacement workers through the use of partial retirement schemes. Since many older workers would prefer to keep working after age 65, employers would benefit by offering flexible retirement schemes, such as a reduced …

Research Brief No. 12 - The Effect Of Work Arrangements On Perceived Work-Family Balance, Karen A. Duncan, Rachael N. Pettigrew

Population Change and Lifecourse Strategic Knowledge Cluster Research/Policy Brief

The combined demands of the modern work world and raising a healthy family have many Canadian struggling to find enough time. Canadians are working more and more hours while wages largely remain stagnant. In order to address this growing concern, alternate work arrangements have been increasingly used to help employees strike some degree of work-family balance and decrease related issues of absenteeism and turnover in the workplace. This research explores the effect of three unique work strategies — flexible schedules, shift work and self-employment — on men and women in dual-earner families. It examines each arrangement’s impact on reported satisfaction …

Policy Brief No. 12 - Quebec’S Family Policies Benefit Childbearing And Work, Roderic Beaujot, Du Ching Jiangqin, Zenaida Ravanera

Population Change and Lifecourse Strategic Knowledge Cluster Research/Policy Brief

The uniqueness of Quebec in Canada, and its attempt to be in control of its own destiny, also applies to family policy. Specifically, Quebec family policies have helped to increase fertility rates, promote more favourable attitudes toward child care, led to more people using child care in Quebec than the rest of Canada, improved people’s satisfaction with child care, and allowed more women with young children to participate in paid work than the rest of Canada. However, the child development indicators have not progressed as positively in Quebec when compared to the rest of Canada. This suggests that universal programs …

Research Brief No. 10 - Analyzing Canadian Women Working After Childbirth As Lifecourse Transition, Stéphanie Gaudet, Martin Cooke, Joanna Jacob

Population Change and Lifecourse Strategic Knowledge Cluster Research/Policy Brief

This research focused on Canadian mothers who had a first child between 1970 and 1999, and the probability of these mothers working shortly after childbearing. Authors Stéphanie Gaudet, Martin Cooke and Joanna Jacob studied the change and underlying dynamics with two main questions. First, what are the characteristics that affect Canadian women’s employment? And how have women’s employment transitions after the birth of a first child changed over time? The investigators probed the effects of socioeconomic characteristics on labor force withdrawal using the 2001 General Social Survey, Cycle 15 on Family History. Employment transition was viewed through a type of …

Research Brief No. 6 - Family Background And Economic Mobility In The United States And Canada, Miles Corak, Lori Curtis, Shelley Phipps

Population Change and Lifecourse Strategic Knowledge Cluster Research/Policy Brief

Canadians and Americans have very similar notions of what constitutes the “good life”: largely economic success, stability, health and freedom. They also both believe that the way to achieve that success is through hard work, ambition and personal choices. However, there is a large gap between the ability of Canadians and Americans to achieve a different economic status than their parents. On average, three times more economic inequality is passed on in the United States than in Canada, and the largest gaps occur at the extremes of the spectrum: the richest segment of the population and the poorest. This gap …

Policy Brief No. 9 - A Canada-Us Comparison Of The Wage Gap For Highly Educated Immigrants, Aneta Bonikowska, Feng Hou, Garnett Picot

Population Change and Lifecourse Strategic Knowledge Cluster Research/Policy Brief

This policy brief focuses on changes in the wages of university educated new immigrants over the 1980-2005 period in Canada and the United States. Generally speaking, wage outcomes for this group were superior in the U.S. Wages of university educated new immigrants relative to domestic born university graduates declined in Canada over that period but rose in the United States. Also, the university wage premium — the difference in the wages of the university and high school educated — for new immigrants was similar in both countries in 1980, but rose over the next two decades in the United States …

Policy Brief No. 3 - Employment Consequences Of Family/Friend Caregiving In Canada, Janet Fast, Karen Duncan, Chelsea Dunlop, Jacquie Eales, Norah Keating, Donna Lero, Satomi Yoshino

Population Change and Lifecourse Strategic Knowledge Cluster Research/Policy Brief

There are more than 2.3M employed family/friend caregivers in Canada. Their multiple competing demands come with the risk of such negative employment consequences as missing work days, reducing work hours or foregoing job opportunities. These carerelated employment consequences have economic costs for caregivers, their families and their employers. Using Statistics Canada’s 2007 General Social Survey (GSS), we describe the characteristics of employed family/friend caregivers age 45 and older in Canada and the impact caregiving has on their employment.

The Converging Gender Trends In Earning And Caring In Canada, Beaujot Roderic, Jianye Liu, Zenaida R. Ravanera

Population Change and Lifecourse Strategic Knowledge Cluster Discussion Paper Series/ Un Réseau stratégique de connaissances Changements de population et parcours de vie Document de travail

Following on our earlier work, this article updates the data on the central family activities of earning a living and caring for each other. We consider the gender side of participation in these activities, along with alternate models of the division of earning and caring. Our analysis of the data shows that the trends in earning and caring have moved in the direction of reduced gender inequalities, especially a greater sharing of paid work, and some change toward men’s greater participation in unpaid work. However, the differences remain large, and the inequalities are accentuated by the presence of young children.

The Perils Of Project-Based Work: Attempting Resistance To Extreme Work Practices In Video Game Development, Amanda Peticca-Harris, Johanna Weststar, Steve Mckenna

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

This article examines two blogs written by the spouses of game developers about extreme and exploitative working conditions in the video game industry and the associated reader comments. The wives of these video game developers and members of the game community decry these working conditions and challenge dominant ideologies about making games. This article contributes to the work intensification literature by challenging the belief that long hours are necessary and inevitable to make successful games, discussing the negative toll of extreme work on workers and their families, and by highlighting that the project-based structure of game development both creates extreme …

Understanding Video Game Developers As An Occupational Community, Johanna Weststar

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

The video game industry has rapidly expanded over the last four decades; yet there is limited research about the workers who make video games. In examining these workers, this article responds to calls for renewed attention to the role of the occupation in understanding project-based workers in boundaryless careers. Specifically, this article uses secondary analysis of online sources to demonstrate that video game developers can be understood as a unique social group called an occupational community (OC). Once this classification has been made, the concept of OC can be used in future research to understand video game workers in terms …

Constructing ‘Farmer’ And ‘State’ Identities In Moral Discourses About Semi-Subsistence Agriculture In North-East Brazil, Karen E. Pennesi

Anthropology Publications

Anthropological analysis elucidates how discourses about agriculture in one North-east Brazilian community reflect relational roles of citizens and the state, the position of farmers in society, and the relationship of individuals to their work. In these discourses, farmers are positioned as moral, hard-working, autonomous citizens, justifying their participation in low-paying activities. The declining numbers of agricultural workers is explained as a result of individual laziness or government irresponsibility. In using these discourses to take stances publicly on agricultural issues, speakers assign responsibilities and moral status to agents. In constructing rural identities, such moral discourses emphasise the symbolic value of subsistence …

The Capacity For Mobilization In Project-Based Cultural Work: A Case Of The Video Game Industry, Marie-Josee Legault, Johanna Weststar

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

Though dissatisfied with some management practices and working conditions, like most high-tech knowledge workers, videogame developers remain reluctant towards unionization. This article examines the factors of collective action among developers as an example, using data gathered from an international survey and interviews. We conclude that developers meet some conditions conducive to collective action but face many obstacles as well, both to collective action and to unionization proper. This does not lead us to share the belief of a decline in collective action, but rather raises the issue of conflating union action and collective action. Our study reveals how unsuited the …

Work Hour Congruence: The Effect On Job Satisfaction And Absenteeism, Bryon Y. Lee, Jing Wang, Johanna Weststar

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

This study examines the effect of work hour congruence on employee job satisfaction and absenteeism using a large, longitudinal sample from the Canadian Workplace and Employee Survey (WES). An employee is said to have work hour congruence when they actually work the number of hours that they desire. Results indicate a difference between employees who desire more hours and those who desire fewer hours: employee desire for and receipt of more hours was related to positive changes in job satisfaction, while employee desire for and receipt of fewer hours was related to reduced absenteeism. In addition, the results suggest that …

The Recruitment And Selection Of Pension Trustees: An Integrative Approach, Susan Sayce, Johanna Weststar, Anil Verma

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

The role of a pension trustee is significant, which makes the recruitment and selection of labour trustees an important issue. In this article, we examine and combine aspects of two approaches to recruitment and selection: the political nomination model and the more professional HRM approach. We argue that an integrative approach would acknowledge the political, regulatory and organisational context while incorporating valid selection criteria such as domain‐specific skills and performance on the job. Such an integrated process can help trade unions in filling labour trustee positions with talented individuals who are more likely to be effective in achieving labour's goals …

Situational Variables And Sustainability In Multi-Attribute Decision-Making, Bonnie Simpson, Scott Radford

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

Purpose

– The purpose of this study is to examine whether consumers demonstrate a multi-dimensional understanding of sustainability in their decision-making and addresses the situational influence of confidence and compromise on sustainable product choices.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using three choice-based conjoint experiments the authors examined the importance of sustainability, compromise and confidence to consumers across two contexts. Two-step cluster analyses were used to segment consumers based on the importance scores.

Findings

– Data indicates that the environmental dimension of sustainability is the most influential followed by economic and social. The responses suggest three distinct segments identified as self-focused, trend motivated and …

The Motivating Role Of Dissociative Outgroups In Encouraging Positive Consumer Behaviors, Katherine White, Bonnie Simpson, Jennifer Argo

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

Previous research has found that people tend to avoid products or behaviors that are linked to dissociative reference groups. The present research demonstrates conditions under which consumers exhibit similar behaviors to dissociative out-group members in the domain of positive consumption behaviors. In particular, when a consumer learns that a dissociative out-group performs comparatively well on a positive behavior, the consumer is more likely to respond with positive intentions and actions when the setting is public (vs. private). The authors suggest that this occurs because learning of the successful performance of a dissociative out-group under public conditions threatens the consumer’s group …

Is The Very Notion Of “Representation” Relevant For The Regulation Game Of Video Game Developers?, Marie-Josee Legault, Johanna Weststar

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

Using Kelly’s mobilisation theory (1998) to assess their propensity to collective action, this article examines where videogame developers stand regarding the representation of their interests. These workers are good examples of knowledge work in project-based organisations. If Kelly’s model allows in general for projections of unionisation in a given sector, we find this is not the case here. Rather, our study leads us to observe how much the labour market has changed since the elaboration of Kelly’s model, and how much these workers’ needs differ from the options laid out by traditional unions’ action as presented by Kelly. This group …

Issues In The Analysis Of Inequality, Michael R. Smith

Population Change and Lifecourse Strategic Knowledge Cluster Discussion Paper Series/ Un Réseau stratégique de connaissances Changements de population et parcours de vie Document de travail

In spite of data and methodological challenges, research has largely reached the conclusion that earnings inequality has risen in Canada, the US and elsewhere, and that the rise has been mainly driven by large increases at the top of the earnings distribution. Researchers offer two competing explanations for causes of the rising inequality: (1) innovations in information and communication technologies, and (2) institutional changes such as the freezing of the minimum wage, decline in unionization, and the spread of performance-related pay increases. Inequality is influenced by changes in population composition, specifically, the size of cohorts entering the labour market, and …

When Do (And Don’T) Normative Appeals Influence Sustainable Consumer Behaviors?, Katherine White, Bonnie Simpson

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

The authors explore how injunctive appeals (i.e., highlighting what others think one should do), descriptive appeals (i.e., highlighting what others are doing), and benefit appeals (i.e., highlighting the benefits of the action) can encourage consumers to engage in relatively unfamiliar sustainable behaviors such as “grasscycling” and composting. Across one field study and three laboratory studies, the authors demonstrate that the effectiveness of the appeal type depends on whether the individual or collective level of the self is activated. When the collective level of self is activated, injunctive and descriptive normative appeals are most effective, whereas benefit appeals are less effective …

Negotiating In Silence: Experiences With Parental Leave In Academia, Johanna Weststar

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

This paper presents a case study of pregnancy/parental leave arrangements among faculty members at a mid-sized Canadian University from 2000-2010. The data show that leave arrangements were very inconsistent across faculties, across and within departments, and even for individual faculty members who had taken more than one leave. The majority of problematic cases were instances where a faculty member began or ended a leave in the middle of an academic term. Without specific language in their collective agreement, these faculty members often negotiated circumstances that carried individual penalties for duties that were unassigned in light of the leave. This research …

A Polyphonic Approach To The 'Dark Side' Of Making Video Games, Johanna Weststar, Amanda Pettica-Harris, Steve Mckenna

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

This paper considers the video game industry and how it is represented through social media blogs and tweets. It aims to disentangle the polyphony of voices communicating through different stories about what it means to work in the gaming industry. The multiple voices found within the blogs and tweets weave a complex and contested narrative about the carnivalesque way in which video games are made, poignantly illustrating the good, the bad, and the ugly. Using the work of the Russian literary theorist and philosopher, Mikhail Bakhtin (1984, 1993), and particularly his notions of monologic and dialogic stories and narratives (McKenna, …

Tigers, Coyotes And Cats: Precariousness And Masculinity Among Mexican Migrant Workers In Canada, Tanya Basok, Eloy Rivas

Western Migration Conference Series

Bio:

Tanya Basok is a Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminology, and the Director of the Centre for Studies in Social Justice, University of Windsor. She specializes in migration studies from a social justice perspective. Over a span of 25 years, she has studied Salvadorean refugees in Costa Rica, Soviet Jewish immigrants in Canada, the Canadian refugee policy, Mexican seasonal workers in Canada, and migrant rights activism in Canada, USA, Latin America and the Caribbean. The author of Tortillas and Tomatoes (McGill-Queen’s Press), she has also published in such journals as International Migration, …

Token Presence Or Substantive Participation? A Study Of Labor Trustees On Pension Boards, Anil Verma, Johanna Weststar

Management and Organizational Studies Publications

In contrast to their absence from corporate boards in North America, labor representatives do have a seat on many pension boards. Given the lack of research on the role of labor participation in these fora, this study reports findings from a survey of labor trustees. We find that labor trustees make greater contributions to procedure-oriented processes such as information sharing, rule-making and rule interpretation; and, fewer contributions to investment-oriented processes such as investment decisions, fund performance and manager selection. Gender does not seem to matter in explaining participation in board activities. Accountability in terms of a requirement to report back …