ECON2280 Introduction to Labour Economics

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic situation has forced the Canadian economy in a medically induced coma. The situation has led to a closure and slowdown of the entire economy as government focused on managing the spread of the disease. The economic situation has caused a recession in the Canada triggered by financial crisis among people, loss of jobs, employment of people and other social issues and problems as per the opinion of Bouka & Bouka, (2020). The COVID-19 situation has a major issue on the Canadian labour market which is central to the changes in gross domestic product. The work life situation has revealed inequalities in the Canadian labour market. The purpose of this essay is to discuss meritocracy in the labour market and labour market programs to deal with the problems of meritocracy in the Canadian labour market.

Discussion and analysis

According to Stanford & Stanford (2021), the inequalities in labour market is expected to widen after the struck of pandemic situation with limited talent, education and lack of security. The job crisis situation has been turning into a social crisis with half of the workers having temporary contracts and lack of job security. The young people are also confronted with difficult job market with lower payment. The self employed, temporary workers are likely to make up 40% to 50 % of the workforce. The Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) aims to pay more than the low wage workers, however, there are arguments pertaining to this benefit. It has been argued by Mohmand et al., (2021), that Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) is actually paying the people to keep them out of workforce at the current situation. The people are getting paid to remain at home and prevent them from working. There are increasing problems regarding lost access to child care, health care issues and other social issues. The CERB is argued to offer low wage workers gain control over their working lives. The unemployment rate is likely to remain high as the economy continues to revive. The government of Ontario plans to impose wide “emergency brake” due to increase in the surge of Covid-19 and increase in hospitalization case across the province. Various companies also plans to cut down its workforce such as Drop Box Inc announced to cut down 11% of the workers as the file hosting service provider aims to shift itself in the wake of pandemic situation as mentioned by Raj & Aithal, (2020).

These low paid situations, increase rate of unemployment and precarious position in the industries have significant impact on the labour market. As mentioned by Agency, (2021). the workplaces are plagued with destructive and exploitative labour practices which have been argued to spread the virus. The marginalized groups continue to face barriers in accessing benefits from public survive. Research suggests that health profile of newcomers like Brooks will vary based on different factors such as gender, language barriers, race and social infrastructure. It has been argued by Bouka & Bouka, (2020), that race and immigration profiles might make the policy makers to better understand the structures and creates hierarchies of vulnerabilities within these communities. Disparities in infection rates are supported by intersection of gender, immigration, health care, race and labour. Health care industries are undervalued despite being critical to preserve the health and wellbeing of the entire country. The workers have complained about chronic understaffing, unsafe working conditions and high patient-to-aide rations.

The women’s comprises 70% of the entire health workforce in the entire globe and they constitute nearly half of 272 million international migrants (development-matters.org 2021). The migrant women workers support the industry at their full potential especially in the healthcare which is critical to economic recovery. Evidence suggests that socio-economic impacts of the crisis have an adverse impact of the women population of the country (development-matters.org 2021). The COVID-19 pandemic situation can be used as an opportunity to build a better labour market and contribute by the way of labour expenditures remittances, skills and culture while making life comfortable and possible for the communities. It is essential to embrace government and society approach and provide employment to women migrant workers. The organizations need to implement gender responsible labour migration policies as well as programmes at scale through effective decision making process as stated by World Health Organization. (2020). The organizations must make significant investments to protect the migrant workers and their jobs through cash injections. They must ensure labour protections as well as universal social safety nets for the workers including migrants. There must be investments made to enable provision of services such as cash, employment security, income support, COVID-19 prevention information, testing and treatment. The migrant workers must be included in the vaccination campaigns against covid-19 as mentioned by Mohmand et al., (2021).

According to Mohmand et al., (2021), gender responsive programmes must be incorporated with policies and standards for skill up gradation, e-recruitment, ethical policies and portability through registered agents. There must be wage protection systems for the domestic as well as migrant workers. There must be more decent jobs for the people and ensure labour law coverage with strong mechanisms and monitoring systems (Nazneen & Araujo, 2021). It must be ensured that women laws and comprehensive services cover the migrant women workers as well as other workers irrespective of migration status. Bilateral labour agreements can be incorporated based by monitoring mechanisms to protect the women and migrant workers in the community (Raj & Aithal, 2020). Moreover, the government as well as private organizations need to undertake steps and initiatives to rebuild the quality of work to fully occupy the Canadian workers.

Conclusion

 From the above discussion and analysis, it can be concluded that increasing crisis and meritocracy has major impact on the labour market problem. There have been rising disparities among the people especially regarding infection rates. The socio economic impacts have adverse effects of the women workers and migrant workers. The pandemic situation must be used as an opportunity to address the issues and contribute towards a healthier work environment and better lifestyle of the people.

References

Agency, C. (2021). Canada Emergency Response Benefit with CRA - Canada.ca - Canada.ca. Retrieved 8 April 2021, from https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/benefits/apply-for-cerb-with-cra.html

Bouka, A. A., & Bouka, Y. (2020). Canada’s COVID-19 blind spots on race, immigration and labour. The Conversation Canada, 19.

development-matters.org (2021). COVID-19, an opportunity to build back better for women migrant workers. Retrieved 8 April 2021, from https://oecd-development-matters.org/2021/01/28/covid-19-an-opportunity-to-build-back-better-for-women-migrant-workers/

Mohmand, S. K., Anderson, C., Gallien, M., Harrison, T., Joshi, A., Loureiro, M., ... & van den Boogard, V. (2021). Governance for Building Back Better. IDS Bulletin, 52(1).

Nazneen, S., & Araujo, S. (2021). Building Back Better, Gender Equality, and Feminist Dilemmas. IDS Bulletin, 52(1).

Raj, K., & Aithal, P. S. (2020). The Post COVID-19 World: Efforts Needed to Build Back a More Resilient Society. International Journal of Case Studies in Business, IT, and Education (IJCSBE), 4(1), 88-93.

Stanford, J., & Stanford, J. (2021). Ten Ways to Improve Work After COVID-19 Pandemic. Retrieved 8 April 2021, from https://centreforfuturework.ca/2020/06/03/ten-ways-to-improve-work-after-covid-19-pandemic/

van Barneveld, K., Quinlan, M., Kriesler, P., Junor, A., Baum, F., Chowdhury, A., ... & Rainnie, A. (2020). The COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons on building more equal and sustainable societies. The Economic and Labour Relations Review, 31(2), 133-157.

World Health Organization. (2020). Getting your workplace ready for COVID-19: how COVID-19 spreads, 19 March 2020 (No. WHO/2019-nCov/workplace/2020.2). World Health Organization.

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