Op-Eds
Canada's labour force has become more diverse, but visible minorities as a whole still struggle to achieve parity in the labour market. Even accounting for differences in individuals' characteristics, the data show that the slow process of integration for immigrants merits special attention.
More than one-fifth of Canadians are visible minorities – non-Indigenous and "non-Caucasian" in race or non-white in colour – according to the 2016 Census. Visible minorities earned only 81.2 per cent of what non-visible minorities earned in 2015 – a gap that has widened by 2.6 percentage points since 2000.
Education, work experience and occupation play important roles in earning outcomes, but they are not able to fully…
As it contemplates the possibility of a modernized NAFTA, Canada should seek to improve labour mobility throughout North America to address skill shortages in Canada.
The narrative around the Trump regime focuses on Canada's increased advantage in attracting skilled international workers. But those same tougher U.S. immigration policies bring a threat: American employers may try to hire more Canadians who can easily cross the border to meet the demand for high skills.
As a result of rapid technological changes, employers' needs for high-skilled workers grow every year. Since the North American free-trade agreement came into force more than 20 years ago, new occupations have been created. The Canadian market faces a…
Ontario's Education Quality and Accountability Office's 2016/2017 results released this week show that for the second year in a row, only 50 per cent of Grade 6 students met the provincial math standard, compared with 61 per cent ten years ago. It is important to reverse this trend since early achievement in math is a strong predictor of later success in math and future career options.
Another concerning point to emerge from the EQAO tests is that the percentage of students who met the math standard in Grade 3 but did not do so in Grade 6 has increased. This suggests that students are not being well-prepared in lower grades to handle more difficult math concepts. Mathematics is extremely cumulative in nature. A student cannot…
Ontario’s proposed 20.6-per-cent increase in the minimum wage from $11.60 in October to $14 on January 2018 is the largest dollar hike in any Canadian province over the past two decades. By Jan. 1, 2019, the minimum wage is scheduled to reach $15. Poverty advocates argue many low-income households will benefit. But they should also take a close look at the Canadian evidence that shows that minimum-wage hikes will lead to fewer jobs for immigrants.
Much of the current Ontario debate has focused on either U.S.-based research or the experience in some specific cities. Ontario Labour Minister Kevin Flynn said that wage increases in San Francisco and Seattle led to increasing employment in those areas. The most recent data…
Ontario and Alberta will soon dramatically increase their minimum wages to $15 an hour. Unfortunately, these fast and sizable minimum-wage increases are likely going to reduce employment and increase poverty, particularly for the low-income families that the governments are seeking to help.
The Ontario government introduced legislation on June 1 to raise its minimum wage from $11.40 an hour to $14 next year and then to $15 on Jan. 1, 2019. As soon as Jan. 1, 2018, Ontario will face – under the legislation – the largest one-year increase in the minimum wage rate (22.8 per cent) of any province over the past two decades.
In June, 2015, Alberta was the first province to plan a $15 minimum wage, which would amount to…
