Labour Program And How It Deal With the Issue of Discrimination in the Labour Market
Discrimination in the Labour Market
Unemployment rate can be defined as the proportion of the persons that are in the labour market, that presently have no jobs and they are either in the available list or the list of people looking for employment. Unemployment is an issue that continues to receive a great debating all over the world because of the effects that this has on the society. Canada is one of the many states that continue to deal with the issue of unemployment with the rates of the people that are unemployed continuing to significantly rise every year (Campolieti, 2011). In most states, the rate of people that are unemployed is viewed as an indicator of the performance in the labour market. When this is put into consideration, Canada’s economy has then greatly depreciated ever since the 1980s with its increasing unemployment rates. The average decadal redundancy rate rose from about 6.7% in the 1970s up to 9.3% in the 1980s (Campolieti, 2011). What is more revealing is the increase in Canadian redundancy as compared to the United States. All through the post war period, the unemployment rates in the two states went through a very similar trend, and they were nearly equal in 1960. This however changed in 1980s when the average Canadian redundancy rates went 2% higher than that of the United States.
The issue increased redundancy rates has severe impacts on mostly the young people that are trying to get into the job market, most especially those that are looking for their first job. Between the years 2008 and 2009, the rate of the youths are unemployed increased by about 3.4 points and it has even more recently reached 11.5% by the end of the year 2017. It is projected that the Canadian unemployment rate in the year 2022 will remain at 6.3% which is a great percentage (Cappellari et al., 2018).
Many people living in Canada today are unemployed a high percentage of them being the immigrants that get discriminated against in the labour market. Canada is known for its diversity and it is commonly referred as a nation of newcomers having the highest percentage of foreign born citizens as compared to other states. In the current day, the immigrants represent more than 20% of all the total Canadian population (Oreopoulus, 2008). However, even with this diversity in Canada, the immigrants face a lot of discrimination most of which is in regard to job opportunities that has led to increased rates of unemployment in Canada. The immigrants, most especially the ones that are skilled face so many struggles when trying to find jobs in Canada because of the high rates of racism that is there (Oreopoulus, 2008). The few that are able to acquire the jobs have to deal with lower wages as compared to the non-immigrants which demoralizes them and it leads them to quit their jobs and hence the increasing populations of the unemployed.
Discrimination along the lines of ethnicity and nationality is a common aspect in Canadian labour market where it affects job applicants. When employers make decisions about the applicant that they should consider for a position, the unobservable characteristics on the resume of the applicants is in most cases used as a signal for information that is not known (Oreopoulus, 2008). A good illustration is when employers make assumptions in regard to the language skills of an applicant based on their country of education and their names. In this case, the employers are susceptible to discriminate based on the prejudice of that country and this has greatly contributed to many immigrants not getting employed leading to the increasing unemployment rates in Canada.
The Labour Program
The policy that have been implemented in line with the issues that face the labour force is the labour program that tries to look into the issues that are faced by employees and the issue of employment at large. The labour program is part of the Employment and Social Development Canada Portfolio and its role is to protect the rights and wellbeing of both the workers and the personnel in federally controlled work places (Social Development Canada, 2019). It was created in 2003 when the Human Resource Development Canada was split into two departments and this department was left to deal with work force related issues.
The program works closely with both the provincial as well as the regional managements, unions, proprietors and global allies to ensure that there are fair, safe and productive workplaces as well as collaborative work place relations. This policy states that it is the right of every Canadian to be treated fairly in matters of employment at all stages of employment whether it is during the recruitment process or even when one is already an employee (Social Development Canada, 2019). The policy is committed to providing clear and consistent interpretations in regard to its regulations in a language that is clear and easy for everyone to understand in order to enable employers to meet its regulatory requirements.
The labour programs normally develop clarifications and procedures for specific provisions of the acts and the connected protocols that are under its obligation including the Canada Labour Code, the Employment Equity Act and the Government Employees’ Compensation Act. The strategies are envisioned to guarantee that the regulation is interpreted constantly and also that the programs are supplied effectually across the country by the labour program personnel (Social Development Canada, 2018). The programs’ guidelines are always frequently restructured based on the sponsor needs and response. This program is very dedicated in providing the finest conceivable guidance and information to the stake holders bearing in mind that the guidance does not in any way modify the requests of the law and its protocols.
The policy has three main pillars;
- Predictability
The policy ensures that there are consistent and predictable regulatory interpretations that are put in simple language that is accordance with the communication policy of Canadian Government. The policy always ensures that it receives feedback from the stakeholders through open and timely discussions. It ensures that there is always steadiness in the submission of its guidelines across the state while using clear and concise language to communicate its intentions. The program also ensures that it posts the frequently posted questions and answers for the labour program regulations that are accessed most (Social Development Canada, 2019).
- Service Commitment
This program is committed to ensuring that it provides exceptional service to productions as well as to all Canadian citizens. This includes ensuring that it responds to the enquiries of its stakeholders. This is done through ensuring that their employees are well trained to ensure professionalism and consistency in service provision. It also provides information on the federally controlled occupation values, health and protection, compensation and employment equity through its website and it ensures that responses to questions asked are given. The program also ensure that its services are modernized and this includes the replacement of paper reports that are time consuming and adopting online reporting tools that are fast and efficient (Social Development Canada, 2019).
- Stakeholder commitment
The policy is devoted to continually engaging stake holders in its purposes to increase and advance consciousness of the enterprises to avert work place risks, improve the agreement with labour values and assurance that employees are appropriately remunerated for injuries that they experience when they are at their work places (Social Development Canada, 2019). In order to get first-hand data on issues that are met in the labour market, the programs ensures that it regularly conducts outreach undertakings all through the year for both the employers and the employees. The program also guarantees that it gets response from companies and also persons who aid the program to advance and advance its understandings, supervision and also recognize the guidelines that necessitate additional interpretation (Social Development Canada, 2019).
Neo-conservative in unemployment issues in Canada
Ideology as defined by Mullay & Dupre (2004) is "a consistent set of social, economic and political beliefs". One ideology that comes out clearly in this program is neo-conservative. Racism and neo-conservative are two ideologies that go hand in hand in reference to the fact that some groups that is the minority are discriminated against so that other majority groups can prevail. Racism in regard to neo-conservative is brought out with the fact that racism is something that started out during the colonial era and it is an issue that the world has been trying to eradicate but has not been successful. With the labour market in Canada discriminating the skill immigrants on the basis of their ethnicity, it just shows that the society is still not ready to let go of the ideologies of racism and this is what defines neo-conservative. Neo-conservative relies on racism as both a source of profit and also as a means to divide and rule, the ideology of neo conservative motivates the wedge that is there between people who though from different backgrounds can work together and create a united society where everyone can live in peace and harmony (Carlaw, 2017).
In the past, the society believed that some races are superior to others. The whites were believed to be the superior race and so they had all the authority over all the other races. The world has however changed in that other races have proved to be just as superior, there are great, intelligent people that come from other races which are just an indication that there is really nothing special about the white race that other races cannot manage. It is however sad to realize that even with the proof that other races can just be as superior as the white race, the society is still stuck with the ideology that whites are special and should not be equated with the other races (Carlaw, 2017). The labour program is full proof of this concept in that it allows the discrimination of the skilled immigrants in the Canadian job market allowing the natives to control the free labour market. With the natives having authority in the job market, the immigrants do not get any job opportunities which are really unfair because most of these immigrants are more skilled than the natives. The labour program that is expected to help reduce cases of unfairness in the labour sector, does not really deal with the issue it is stuck with the neo conservative ideology and this is what causes the major problem of unemployment in Canada.
In regard to human nature, neo-conservative ideology believes that people are corrupt and self-centred and they need to be fundamentally controlled because of their negative nature (Mullay & Dupre, 2004). People are responsible for their current behaviours because it’s their choice and they should always be harshly be penalized when they are on the wrong. The society encourages inequality by allowing people to believe there are races that are more superior and others are supposed to suffer under their authority. It is this belief that has led the Canadian society to have great percentages of unemployed individuals because even when the immigrants are skilled and capable, they are still viewed to be inferior and irrelevant. Welfare services in this ideology are offered in a selected manner in that the ones that are in great need who are the jobless qualified immigrants are not really considered. This ideology supports inequality in the society and the hierarchical political-economic order.
Social Democracy and Marxism ideal ideologies in unemployment issues in Canada
Social democracy
Social Democracy can be defined as an ideology that favors communal, partisan and monetary moves in order to help encourage social justice within an entrepreneurial economy (Dorrien, 2019). Social democracy is against any form of inequality which includes racism most especially in the employment sector because of its impacts on the economy. Social democracy argues that racism creates a rift between workforces who have everything in common and also every motive to partner and consolidate together (Dorrien, 2019). But they are continuously driven apart to the profit of the class that rules. In the current issue of unemployment in Canada based on racial discrimination, the immigrants who are the minority are deprived of the chances to work which pointers them to become poor in the society and this also means that they do not have the power. The power is left with the natives who are the majority take this chance to control the market such that they are able to acquire cheap labour from the immigrants who are forced to take up any jobs that they find no matter the wages that they are given.
Social democracy is an ideology that is grounded on equity and its principles have not been properly implemented in the Labour program. The labour program that has been implemented to help deal with the issue is not really reliable. The program only focuses on the employers and the people that are already employed which is not socially democratic. By doing this, the policy does not deal with the matters that are challenging the people for instance trying to find employment for the skilled immigrants. By only dealing with the employers, it encourages the concept of neo-conservative in that the whites continue to enjoy better lives in their work places where they get good salaries while the immigrants continue to suffer without jobs.
Graham at al., (2017) indicates that ‘societies where some people are well cared for than others is unfair and it means that the society will be divided into two groups, there will be the superior group and the minority group’. These two groups can never get along because there are those that will always feel that they are unfairly treated and this will only lead to commotions in the society and this is what neo-conservative thrives on. This program does not in any way solve the issue of human nature in that; it does not have any elements that deal with the issue of discrimination in regard to job applications. Labour program does not have any control on the people that employers decide to employ. All its powers fall on the already employed employees and this means that the ones that are not employed are not really fully covered in this program. The society today has embraced the issue of racism without consideration of the effects that it has on the victims. It is assumed normal for the whites to be superior and even though there are equity laws that have been amended to help deal with the issue, there are still no changes observed.
Marxism
Marxism is against racism and it believes that the future of unity in the society is dependent on the struggle against racism and any form of racial discrimination most especially in the work force (Sypnowich, 2003). Marxism argues against the issue of social classes mostly brought about by racism that strives to separate the society into two groups the superiors and inferiors. Mullay & Dupre (2004) ‘If there is no commitment by the revolutionary organizations as well as programs to fight the issue of racism, then there is no hope for working class unity and the potential of the working class will never be realized’. Oppression is used to defend and also elucidate the imbalanced associations that are there in the society that augment the minority that live off the labour of the majority. Marxism argues that the only way that the society can be united is if they are allowed to work together in unity irrespective of ethnical traits (Sypnowich, 2003).
The most suitable program to deal with the issue of unemployment based on racial discrimination would be one that ensures that every member of the society is given equal work opportunities without any biasness based on their race. When a policy that is expected to help deal with the issues of employment, it should ensure that all areas of employment beginning with the recruitment stages are looked into in order to ascertain that there is equity in the employment system. Guidelines should be given on the manner in which the employers are supposed to conduct, the recruitment fairly without encouraging any form of discrimination. Race should not in any way be a quality that should be taken into consideration in selecting one for a job opportunity. Employers should only consider the qualifications of that individual as well as their past experiences because race does not in any way determine one’s qualification. A policy that embraces the points given in Marxism is more effective because its main objective is to ensure that every individual is treated fairly and equally most especially in matters entailing work opportunities.
Racial discrimination in matters relating to job opportunities is something that the society should not be dealing with, given that the main aim of having workers is to get more production (Melrose, 2017). Employers should strive to get more qualified workers whether they are native or immigrant in order to ensure that there is more productivity for them. Graham at al., (2017) indicates that ‘The people are the ones that should be involved in the creation of a policies’, in this case an all-inclusive policy dealing with racism in the employment sector should be done in the presence of both the employers and also the employees. It should involve people from various ethnicities and backgrounds in order to better understand the problems that are faced by people in the society when it comes to acquirement of jobs. By doing this, it would ensure that the policy targets the employees that are always forced to deal with the issue of discrimination and this would in the overall help to reduce the cases of racial discrimination in the society in all levels of employment.
Both Marxism and social democracy In regard to human nature, believe that People are basically born with infinite possibilities and this means that they can be shaped for the good. People do not really need to be controlled; all they need is protection from corruptive activities like discrimination (Mullay & Dupre, 2004). People deserve a right to compete and be provided with equal opportunities to blossom and prosper and it is the right of the government to interfere when people need help.
These two ideologies value diversity the social system believing that different groups have different interests. Every group has its own interest but it is important for the groups to accommodate one another in order to attain their goals. The social system should be able to embody the checks and balances of the constitution to ensure that every group is treated fairly (Mullay & Dupre, 2004). Vigorous public policies are important in helping to eliminate any form of inequalities in the society which is the best strategy to help preserve civil rights and progressive values. The social and economic systems contain imperfections that can be corrected only through government interventions. The government is the best entity that can provide a structure as well as an environment where adequate services and opportunities can be made available. It is therefore the responsibility of the government to ensure that the needs of the citizens irrespective of their cultural backgrounds are met.
The programs that are created in the labour market should ensure that there is no sense of discrimination and that every individual is offered a job based on their qualifications and not race. Social welfare is a necessary response in helping people to attain the reasonable life standard that is healthy. Provision of social welfare is something that is standard and legitimate in an industrial economy. This is an accepted way of fulfilling social needs and the society has a responsibility to support its members and to provide the benefits that are needed.
Implications of the varying policy ideologies
Racial discrimination is an issue that greatly affects the contemporary society where some races are viewed to be more superior to others. In Canada, the coloured people are discriminated against mostly in employment settings which has led to most of them being unemployed even though they are skilled and qualified. This is an unfair thinking; there is no evidence that the white people have better working qualities than the people of colour. Racism is just an irrational ideology that the society has created based on historical backgrounds of colonization eras. The world however needs to understand that people have outgrown the past and no race is superior to the other. Every individual deserves a chance in getting good job opportunities just as long as they are qualified.
The policies that have been implemented in the employment sectors for instance the Labour program though effective does not really deal with the real problem of unemployment and the main causes of this unemployment most especially among the coloured people. The labour program supports the neo conservative way of thinking where the Canadian society has been divided into two, there are those that superior who are the whites and there are those that are inferior all the other races. The whites enjoy having good jobs and good wages while the immigrants struggle to find jobs and even get the low wages that are availed for them. A good policy is one that follows the Marxism and social democracy reasoning, that understands the need for people most especially people at work places to have equality.
Equality means allowing every person irrespective of their race to get employed depending on their qualifications because that is what is right. The society should be created on the basis of equality so that it can embrace the concept of unity. With the labour program, the minority will continue to suffer in poverty which means that crime activities will continue to increase in the Canadian society as these people try to survive in the unfair society. I believe that it is the work of the social workers to ensure that the society is based on equality and they should encourage the adoption of ideologies that support equality in every sector which will create a unified society at large. A social worker should always be courageous enough to advocate for what is right irrespective of the consequences because that is the ethical thing to do.
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