Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER February 6, 2017 6 NEWS Job quality in decline: Report Job gains continue to be low-paying, part time; middle-income earners see little growth BY MARCEL VANDER WIER THE QUALITY of Canadian employment continues to trend downward, with no change in sight for 2017, according to a CIBC report. Over the last 20 years, the ma- jority of jobs created across the country have been low-paying and part time. In addition, while workers at the low end of the wage spectrum have experienced gains due to government policy changes in terms of minimum wage in- creases, middle-income earners have seen little to no growth, said the report. "e main story is that every year, if you go back through the past 20 years, the share of people making less than average went up," said Toronto-based CIBC econo- mist Benjamin Tal, author of the report On the Quality of Employ- ment in Canada. "So the quality of employment is going down be- cause more people are making less than average. at's a reflection of low-quality jobs and a higher in- come equality gap." While the report used a very specific definition of job quality, focused solely on compensation, other trends such as a widening skills gap can play a role in lower wages, said Tal. "You have people with jobs and you have jobs without people," he said. "You have people looking for jobs that they cannot find, or if they find (them), they have to compromise. And you have com- panies looking for people they cannot find, and therefore the people that are in that segment of the market, their bargaining power is better and their wages are rising." Political movements — such as Donald Trump's election in the United States, and Britain's refer- endum vote to exit the European Union — should serve as stark warnings to Canadian policymak- ers in terms of the unrest of the country's working class because of this issue, said Tal. "To an extent, it's a reflection of this reality in the labour force," he said. "It's simply a mismatch be- tween what's needed and what's available." Without major policy altera- tions to education and immigra- tion programming, Canadian workers should expect more of the same heading into the new year, said Tal. "I don't see something big hap- pening that will change this trend," he said. "ese are global forces. What we need is to guide young Canadians regarding their field of study, what they're studying, but also we need to make sure they have the framework to succeed in this kind of environment." e concern about job quality has been a discussion point for "quite some time," said economist David Madani at Capital Econom- ics in Toronto. ere hasn't been much growth within the "prime" working age sector of those between 24 to 54, he said — the cohort best known for higher-paying jobs. Most growth has been in the 55-and- over age group. Uncertainty looms Monthly Labour Force Surveys published by Statistics Canada told the same story throughout 2016 — while employment gains existed, they were strictly part time. e past year saw full-time employment decline by 30,000 full-time jobs while part-time employment grew by 213,000 po- sitions and overall unemployment fell by 37,000. "e key story is full-time em- ployment versus part time," said Madani. "Why has full-time em- ployment been so lousy? I think it's just a reflection of what's hap- pening in the real economy." "Obviously, the economy's gone through a bit of a rough patch. We had the oil price shock where the economy did slow down and there hasn't been anything else to re- place or offset that. It feels like the economy's sort of drifting a bit. It's in the doldrums, if you will. Busi- ness confidence isn't very high." Large amounts of job loss in a goods-producing sector such as oil hurts the overall outlook, he said. "ose are some of the high- est-paying jobs, by far." e threat of looming changes to major trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) doesn't help matters, said Madani. "Uncertainty has gone up a notch," he said. "An economy is sensitive to confidence because it isn't a command-based economy where policymakers can just snap their fingers and generate growth. In any developed economy, the economy grows because confi- dence is there, which means that households have confidence to spend and businesses have confi- dence to invest and hire." ere are two reasons behind the rise of part-time jobs, said Tal. "It's a combination of demo- graphics (and) choice, but also people being forced into it." Senior workers aren't retiring, choosing to remain engaged with part-time work, he said, noting that most of the increase in part- time employment occurred dur- ing the 2008 recession, and has risen since then. "Many people have to com- promise and go with part time, although they probably desire to have full time," said Tal. Not all about salary But job quality can be defined or examined in various ways — and it's not all bad, said Meghan Reid, a psychologist at Canada Career Counselling in Toronto. "I don't think job quality is fall- ing," she said. "In my opinion, job quality is probably increasing in terms of HR policy, mental health and quality of life becoming more and more important in society as well as within the workplace." As for part-time work, many job-seeking Canadians are look- ing for flexible work hours, which often come in the form of part- time employment. "Sometimes, it's better to fit together two part-time jobs," said Reid. "It's not a bleak outlook. I think there are lots of opportuni- ties out there, and it's finding the best opportunity for you. e best opportunity isn't just the one that makes the most money, it's re- ally digging into and getting clear about yourself and what you need in a career to be satisfied and ful- filled, and thinking outside of the box." While there is a rising wage gap, some workers don't value a high salary as much as other benefits, said Reid. "At least 60 per cent of people I work with would like a higher salary, and a smaller percentage than that need a higher salary to maintain their standard of liv- ing," she said. "Objectively, the money they're making is better, but the cost of living can also be challenging for people. It's a real- ity factor based on education and living expenses. But in terms of what's most important, a lot of it is more around meaning, pur- pose, having influence within the organization." Solutions exist Aside from an unforeseen turn- around of the economy, solutions to better the job quality outlook are difficult to implement, but known, said Tal. "In the short term, the elephant in the room is that there is no quick solution," he said. "at ex- plains a lot of what's happening south of the border. It would be naive to assume that we're totally immune to that. We are facing the same global trends." One potential remedy could see the Canadian post-secondary system marry universities with colleges, to help students achieve some sort of "umbrella degree," said Tal, citing the combination of liberal arts with the trades. "Some people refer to young Canadians as the 'lost generation' — people in their 20s and 30s," he said. "I don't think we should call them the lost generation. We sim- ply need to help them. We know what we do. We just need the right approach." Fewer young people are work- ing in full-time jobs today than 40 years ago — a result directly at- tributable to the rise of part-time work, according to a StatsCan re- port on the youth labour market released in December 2016. "We need the push in the right direction," said Tal, acknowledg- ing both corporations and the federal government need to play a role. "is can be a very forceful tool. It's not a big secret. What we need is the courage and vision to do so." and crude behaviour. It was a fact that Rogers had sexual images and items in his office and was told to get rid of them and be careful of his behaviour. In addition, the third-party assessment indicated there was a culture of harassment, abuse and intimidation. e court also found Zochem didn't try to fix the problem. It didn't follow through on the rec- ommendations that came out of the survey, and Doyle's complaints weren't taken seriously. Instead, Zochem decided she was the problem and terminated her em- ployment, said the court. ough the company said there were per- formance issues, Doyle wasn't told this and the real reasons were team failings and a lack of company sup- port, said the court. In addition, Zochem's attempt to bring up after-acquired cause fell short in the court's eyes. e $10,000 loan was in fact that em- ployee's demand for $10,000 for drapes he agreed to get for Doyle for $2,000 and she refused to pay. Zochem's extortion allegation re- ferred to a loan from a contractor friend who said she didn't need to pay him back. The court found Doyle's 20 years of experience as a supervi- sor, nine years of service with Zo- chem, and the importance of her position made her deserving of 10 months' notice of dismissal. e court added another $60,000 in moral damages to this, as it found Zochem's treatment of Doyle in her dismissal — including false allegations of poor performance, demanding the release, and tak- ing a month to pay her statutory severance pay — was in bad faith. e court also found Doyle's rights under Ontario's Human Rights Code were seriously in- fringed when Zochem failed to deal with Doyle's sexual harass- ment complaint, despite the fact she followed the proper complaint procedure and honestly tried to deal with the problem. Doyle was entitled to $25,000 in damages for breach of her human rights, said the court. In total, Zochem was ordered to pay Doyle 10 months' pay and pension earnings in lieu of notice, minus termination and sever- ance pay already deducted, plus $85,000 in moral and human rights damages. For more information see: •Doyle v. Zochem Inc., 2016 Car- swellOnt 19295 (Ont. S.C.J.). Jeffrey R. Smith is the editor of Ca- nadian Employment Law Today. For more information, visit www.employ- mentlawtoday.com. HARASSMENT < pg. 5 $60,000 in moral damages "e elephant in the room is there is no quick solution. at explains a lot of what's happening south of the border."

• Cover