- Vastly inflate the stats for supposed job vacancies and skill shortages in Canada by basing them on a program that counts online classified ads, including one on eBay that features the same jobs posted multiple times.
- Refuse to divulge the questionable source of the now vastly inflated stats being used to implement government policy because - commercial confidentiality.
- Tighten up eligibility requirements for employment insurance because - hey, tons of jobs out there going begging.
- Send Kenney off to Ireland to encourage 10,000 Irish students to come to Canada with their newly issued open work permits just as Canadian students hit the street looking for summer jobs.
- Mandate employers to post 'help wanted' ads on the government job bank site where they sit undated for up to six months or a year after they are filled, thus providing further evidence for the illusion of a serious labour shortage .
- Give employers a time limit of four weeks to not respond to Canadian job applicants, after which they are free to import hundreds of thousands of temporary foreign workers thus driving unemployment up and wages down.
- Mission accomplished.
- Quietly delete the bogus inflated stats from gov. labour market data after you get busted for basing government policy on an eBay service whose proprietor explained "the job postings on the site are rising in part because the site itself has had major growth in terms of popularity."
Are we done with the myth of Conservative competence in all matters economic yet?
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7 comments:
I have been tracking the resource job postings, for quite some time now.
When the jobs posted time out? The same jobs are posted over and over again. The bulk of the job postings are for Engineers, Millwrights, Superintendents and for professional jobs. There is a firm, bringing over Chinese Engineers. Many Engineers are applying overseas.
There are very few jobs, for skilled labor and literally none for level entry jobs. I am wondering if these jobs are in Harper's job bank in Ottawa? Most jobs aren't even posted. Many of the postings have no start date. Some postings just say open and have remained open for months.
Then you find? Three different sites post many different jobs for the same outfit. On the companies web sites, those jobs don't exist.
The proclaimed labor shortage is an, out and out blatant lie.
My son is an Engineer and I am trying to talk him into leaving Canada. I don't want my grandchildren living in a dictatorship. There is no future in this country, for our young people.
This government is certainly making 'The Canadian Council of Chief Executives' (CCCE) extremely satisfied and insuring their post government employment status with the exec's.
"Are we done with the myth of Conservative competence in all matters economic yet?"
HA HA HA...no.
Though honestly, the more I here people say it, that more I think it means blindly supporting neoliberalism, than actually being competent at managing economics. But maybe I'm stating the obvious. :p
Nice graphic Alison!! Is it possible this is not total incompetence, but a concerted attempt by the Harper® government to drive Canadian wages down?
Now I just wish we could stop paying for the government ads telling retiring vets about how well they will be treated - using prime time commercials!!?? What a complete FUBAR this group is.
We too often mistake economic malfeasance for incompetence.
To my eye I see a deliberate strategy to suppress wages and create a vast pool of desperate compliant low wage workers.
We have been doing just that to places like Haiti and Mexico for decades, merely our turn now.
I agree with Kev that malfeasance is at the root of the TFW agenda: the lies to support TFW rationale are intentional manipulations of Harper-controlled agencies. But there is also incompetence: Kenny's nonchalant back-pedalling from charges the program is being abused tries to hide genuine nervousness about grumblings from the elder faction of Harper's "base"---the ones who remember something about national patriotism, who are beginning to get uncomfortable with Canadian workers getting bumped by foreigners, who are starting to notice how ostensibly disparate policies like reducing military veteran support and rushed foreign trade deals increasingly corroborate a fundamentally un-Canadian aspect of Harper's grand scheme. Hitherto Harper's knee-to-groin bullying had been interpreted as nothing more than tactical tough love, military style---until Minister Fantino's snub of veterans crystallized doubts about the government's claimed affection for the armed forces---a string of inept Defence Ministers, continuous fuck-ups in military expenditures and cynical treatment of injured vets, to name a few.
Forcing wages down by importing low-pay, easily intimidated TFW appeals to neo-rightists because this Harperite faction only understands economics in terms of private profit; but deep in the hearts of many conservatives, especially older Tory-types, exists a broader comprehension of the economy, one that acknowledges the social weal as an essential ingredient to free enterprise. Pushing the envelope, bullying, crossing the line, double-daring, picking fights and nose-thumbing, such being Harper's modus operandi, often exceed what had been previously acceptable and, once the water's tested, Harper either plants his flag in conquered new territory of lows or retreats slightly, having gained his objective. Kenny's substantial retreat, all in a hurry, suggests the TWF program has gone way too far, even for Harper, and that can only mean rumblings from his "base" which is getting more vital every day as his popularity continues to slip across the board. He can't afford to expunge those of his base who hold dear national patriotism because he hasn't found enough pure neo-rightists to replace them.
Anon@9:19 Something I've read repeatedly in comments under TFW stories is that when job hunters apply to a job posting, the response they get is a come on to register with an employment agency instead.
So there probably isn't a job there at all - it's just click bait.
Mogs : In defence of CCCE, at least as a public policy measure, they are much bigger on apprenticeship and rejigging provincial skills education than they are on extending TFW programs.
Anon, ATRQ, Kev, Scotty :
Incompetence vs malfeasance
The post previous to this one on TFWs was on malfeasance; this one is on incompetence.
With a head full of Piketty and his long wave history of capital wealth and income inequality and how it's going right the fuck off the rails, I think there's a case to be made that narrow self-interested malfeasance on the part of governments is just another form of incompetence.
Good interview with him here.
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