- Joined
- Sep 25, 2007
- Messages
- 201
Hi all,
An article from the November 24th edition of the Globe and Mail (Report on Business). The headline in the newspaper was "Creative class the most recession-proof". The headline in the attached link is "Where a recession will hurt most". Hmm ...; it seems to me that we have two headline spins to the same article - the first positive-sounding and the second negative-sounding. Excerpts:
If a recession hits Canada, as many think is already the case, will its turbulence affect all of us in the same way? Not if past history is a guide.
The good news is that it`s likely that the continuing shift in our economy from traditional blue-collar, working-class jobs to creative and service jobs will dampen the effects of job losses – over all. But those in the working class will feel the pain much more.
Our economy is composed of four classes, defined by the kinds of work people do. The first is the working class, consisting of workers who use physical skills and carry out repetitive tasks (for example, tradespersons, mechanics, crane operators and assembly line workers). Next is the service class, where workers engage in relatively low-autonomy occupations providing services, for example, food-service workers, janitors and clerks. Then there are those in farming, forestry and fishing. Finally, there is the creative class – the growing number of workers who are paid to think. These include scientists and technologists, artists and entertainers, and managers and analysts.
Defining our economy by the work people do is different than the conventional way of defining it by industries.
Our economy has experienced the dramatic growth of some occupational classes alongside the significant decline of others. Employment in the creative and service classes is growing most quickly in Canada. Over the past 25 years, the creative class has grown from 24 per cent of the work force to 34 per cent; the service class has been steady at 41 per cent. In the meantime, the working-class percentage has fallen from 29 per cent to 22 per cent. Only 3 per cent of workers are in the remaining class of farming, fishing and forestry occupations.
What we`re witnessing is a replay of the employment decline in the farming, forestry and fishing class in the first half of the 20th century.
With the growth of the service and creative classes, wage inequality takes on a new face. Creative-class occupations in Canada pay considerably more than the other three – on average 39-per-cent more than all occupations.
People in the creative class are much more likely to be university educated while those in the working class and service class are less likely to be university graduates.
But perhaps the biggest and scariest difference is in the impact of unemployment.
Unemployment rates among the working class have been more than triple the rate of those in the creative class and about double the rate of those in the service class over the past decade. Service-class unemployment has been about double the creative-class rate and has not diverged from it in the past 20 years.
Our goal is to help policy makers, businesses, regions and people adjust to changes – ensuring that we make an effective transition to having more jobs that possess the right mix of skills, pay as much as possible, and add real innovative value and productivity to our economy.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...tory/robAgenda/
Keith
An article from the November 24th edition of the Globe and Mail (Report on Business). The headline in the newspaper was "Creative class the most recession-proof". The headline in the attached link is "Where a recession will hurt most". Hmm ...; it seems to me that we have two headline spins to the same article - the first positive-sounding and the second negative-sounding. Excerpts:
If a recession hits Canada, as many think is already the case, will its turbulence affect all of us in the same way? Not if past history is a guide.
The good news is that it`s likely that the continuing shift in our economy from traditional blue-collar, working-class jobs to creative and service jobs will dampen the effects of job losses – over all. But those in the working class will feel the pain much more.
Our economy is composed of four classes, defined by the kinds of work people do. The first is the working class, consisting of workers who use physical skills and carry out repetitive tasks (for example, tradespersons, mechanics, crane operators and assembly line workers). Next is the service class, where workers engage in relatively low-autonomy occupations providing services, for example, food-service workers, janitors and clerks. Then there are those in farming, forestry and fishing. Finally, there is the creative class – the growing number of workers who are paid to think. These include scientists and technologists, artists and entertainers, and managers and analysts.
Defining our economy by the work people do is different than the conventional way of defining it by industries.
Our economy has experienced the dramatic growth of some occupational classes alongside the significant decline of others. Employment in the creative and service classes is growing most quickly in Canada. Over the past 25 years, the creative class has grown from 24 per cent of the work force to 34 per cent; the service class has been steady at 41 per cent. In the meantime, the working-class percentage has fallen from 29 per cent to 22 per cent. Only 3 per cent of workers are in the remaining class of farming, fishing and forestry occupations.
What we`re witnessing is a replay of the employment decline in the farming, forestry and fishing class in the first half of the 20th century.
With the growth of the service and creative classes, wage inequality takes on a new face. Creative-class occupations in Canada pay considerably more than the other three – on average 39-per-cent more than all occupations.
People in the creative class are much more likely to be university educated while those in the working class and service class are less likely to be university graduates.
But perhaps the biggest and scariest difference is in the impact of unemployment.
Unemployment rates among the working class have been more than triple the rate of those in the creative class and about double the rate of those in the service class over the past decade. Service-class unemployment has been about double the creative-class rate and has not diverged from it in the past 20 years.
Our goal is to help policy makers, businesses, regions and people adjust to changes – ensuring that we make an effective transition to having more jobs that possess the right mix of skills, pay as much as possible, and add real innovative value and productivity to our economy.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...tory/robAgenda/
Keith