There are no bad jobs, says Flaherty

[firebug]

Originally Posted by Fire

I wish they would make EI optional. I don't want to pay premiums or receive EI cheques if I lose my job. I can put money away into a rainy day fund myself.

The challenge is that that would change the risk profile of the pool and therefore increase its costs. Plus, if you do the math, it is likely that you would not be able to get a return as good as what EI provides on your own - once you factor risk into the equation.

Any of the actuaries will tell you that the benefit is cheapest when the pool of participants is largest. This is one reason why everyone must pay into CPP, EI or even your employer's group health plan.

One of the tradeoffs you get to make when you live in a compassionate society.

[freedogger]

Originally Posted by jammies

This. There is a difference between a shortage of skilled/educated workers, and a shortage of unskilled workers. For the latter, if the wage and benefits are high enough, you *will* attract enough workers. When companies say "we can't get enough workers in these crappy manual labour jobs!" what they are really saying is "we don't want to pay enough to make these jobs sufficiently attractive in the job market to draw people away from other alternatives."

Which is fine, just don't complain about it when that's the decision you make. That's how capitalism is supposed to work, where there is a shortage, prices go up, but it's amazing how many corporations and people think that should apply only when the shortage is in their favour.

Not hard to imagine corporations gaming this new system and doing mass layoffs then hiring the same employees back at x percent lower. After a few iterations watch all those offshore jobs come roaring back.

[Dan02]

Originally Posted by freedogger

Not hard to imagine corporations gaming this new system and doing mass layoffs then hiring the same employees back at x percent lower.

It is if you're not a conspiracy theorist wackjob...

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by freedogger

Not hard to imagine corporations gaming this new system and doing mass layoffs then hiring the same employees back at x percent lower. After a few iterations watch all those offshore jobs come roaring back.

You do know that they would get entirely slaughtered in not only court but by the various labor standards organizations.

[GP_Matt]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

You do know that they would get entirely slaughtered in not only court but by the various labor standards organizations.

Adding to that, it is pretty expensive to hire new employees. It could easily cost 10% of an employees wages to pay for the process of hiring and firing and that ignores any severance that would have to be paid out. Once you factor in severance and the disruption that the process would cause to the operations of the company the plan looks ridiculous.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by GP_Matt

Adding to that, it is pretty expensive to hire new employees. It could easily cost 10% of an employees wages to pay for the process of hiring and firing and that ignores any severance that would have to be paid out. Once you factor in severance and the disruption that the process would cause to the operations of the company the plan looks ridiculous.

True, plus there's the chance that your labor force gets snapped up by other companies, or the Employee's decide that they don't want to accept your offer, so you also have to fill in recruiting costs to compensate for the ones that don't come back, so think on average 3 to 6 months salary equivalent recruiting costs and times.

In other words it would be a incredibly stupid move to save a couple of bucks an hour.

[simmer2]

Originally Posted by jammies

This. There is a difference between a shortage of skilled/educated workers, and a shortage of unskilled workers. For the latter, if the wage and benefits are high enough, you *will* attract enough workers. When companies say "we can't get enough workers in these crappy manual labour jobs!" what they are really saying is "we don't want to pay enough to make these jobs sufficiently attractive in the job market to draw people away from other alternatives."

Which is fine, just don't complain about it when that's the decision you make. That's how capitalism is supposed to work, where there is a shortage, prices go up, but it's amazing how many corporations and people think that should apply only when the shortage is in their favour.

O & G companies are the culprits in rising labour costs...they are so inefficient and make so much profit they can throw dollars at more people instead of trying to make their companies more efficient. What this does is all the small businesses then either need to charge the same rate and kill all hopes of profit or hope their employees won't leave for higher paying work.

And the fact is,the market dictates prices so it isn't like companies can hire at an increased wage and then increase prices...we would get slaughtered by Out of Province businesses.

O & G is also the reason the economy is strong in Alberta so it is a Catch 22.

Hence why Immigration Laws need to relax...too tough to find local ppl willing to work at less than inflated prices due to O & G.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by simmer2

O & G companies are the culprits in rising labour costs...they are so inefficient and make so much profit they can throw dollars at more people instead of trying to make their companies more efficient. What this does is all the small businesses then either need to charge the same rate and kill all hopes of profit or hope their employees won't leave for higher paying work.

And the fact is,the market dictates prices so it isn't like companies can hire at an increased wage and then increase prices...we would get slaughtered by Out of Province businesses.

O & G is also the reason the economy is strong in Alberta so it is a Catch 22.

Hence why Immigration Laws need to relax...too tough to find local ppl willing to work at less than inflated prices due to O & G.

This scenario is part and parcel of an "all eggs in one basket" syndrome. Everyone banks on a strong O and G economy here, but only the strongest survive and thrive. It's tough to convince skilled workers to come to Calgary if it isn't connected in some fashion to O and G. For example in my industry, many skilled IT folks come out because of the chance to work on O and G client projects, with the intentions of hopefully working for them someday. I'd say it happens regularly where contractors of a particular trade/skill simply want in the industry, not necessarily a particular job.