Vol.
26, No. 2 June 2000
Articles:
Changing
Attitudes Toward Worksharing: Evidence from Quebec
Michael Huberman and Paul Lanoie
This
paper evaluates five recent experiences of worksharing in Quebec
since 1994: Bell Canada, Alcan, Scott Paper, Sico, and the Ministère
de l'environnement et de la faune.
Based
on survey evidence showing that desired work hours tend to approximate
actual work hours, previous studies have raised doubts about the likelihood
of successful worksharing initiatives. However, in the cases we have
studied, participation rates in voluntary worksharing programs were
high, especially where workers' sacrifice (lost wages) was not great
and where workers had privious experience with reduced and flexible
worktime. Worksharing initiatives were less successful when they were
mandatory. The programs studied point to the importance of labour-supply
responses in policy design. Governments have a role to play in designing
policy that makes worksharing more attractive to workers and then
changes their attitudes toward it. Our findings are consistent with
the recommendations of the federal government's Advisory Group on
Working Time.
Direct
Job Creation Programs: Evaluation Lessons on Cost-Effectiveness
Arun S. Roy and Ging Wong
In
recent years there has been a renewed interest in direct job creation
programs as part of the active labour market policy, especially in
the OECD European countries. This study provides a review, with a
special reference to cost-effectiveness of Canadian direct job creation
programs introduced by the Canadian federal government over the last
two decades. The review brings diverse evaluation findings into a
common focus and draws evaluation lessons about what works and what
does not work with special reference to their cost-effectiveness over
time. The paper finds that the cost-effectiveness of direct job creation
programs improved considerably over time as program design was continuously
modified. Also, the lessons drawn from the available evaluations highlight
important structural and design issues.
Regulation,
Competition and Risk in the Market for Credit Cards
Barry Scholnick
Contrasting
proposals have recently emerged concerning the need to regulate the
Canadian credit card market. The National Liberal Caucus Task Force
on Financial Services recommended that interest-rate ceilings be imposed
on credit cards in Canada, while the MacKay Commission on Financial
Services described the credit card industry as being subject to increased
competition, and did not recommend any such regulations. Based on
evidence provided here on card providers, card consumers, and the
changing nature of the credit card market, it is argued that ceilings
are not the appropriate regulatory response.
Current
and Potential School System Responses to Poverty
Benjamin Levin and J. Anthony Riffel
The
negative impact of poverty on all educational and life outcomes is
well known, yet the issue does not seem to occupy as important a place
in education policy or practice as its effects would suggest. This
paper, part of a larger study on the way school systems respond to
change, looks at the ways in which poverty is understood in school
systems and the ways that schools try to respond to it. We argue that
although poverty is not created by schools, and the problems of poverty
cannot be resolved by schools, there are steps schools could take
to understand the issue more fully and to cope with it more effectively.
Efforts in this direction would seem to be a critical part of any
attempt to provide effective education.
From
School to Work: The Evolution of Early Labour Market Outcomes of Canadian
Postsecondary Graduates
Ross Finnie
This
paper reports the results of an empirical analysis of the early labour
market outcomes of Canadian postsecondary graduates based on the National
Graduates Surveys, representing those who finished their college or
university programs in 1982, 1986, and 1990. The major findings include
that postsecondary graduates have generally been doing quite well
as a group, with most finding full-time and permanent jobs, receiving
reasonably high earnings, and otherwise successfully moving into the
laour market according to the various outcomes measured here; that
the school-to-work transition is clearly a process, rather than an
event, with most outcomes improving significantly from two to five
years following graduation; that these outcomes vary by level (College,
Bachelor's, Master's, PhD) and sex; and that successive cohorts of
graduates did not experience any widespread decline in their labour
market fortunes over this period.
Is
Germany's Dual System Still a Model for Canadian Youth Apprenticeship
Initiatives?
Wolfgang Lehmann
Many
Canadian provinces have introduced youth apprenticeship initiatives
to facilitate transitions into the labour market. As the German dual
system is often considered a model for such initiatives, this paper
attempts to introduce a critical perspective on issues affecting the
system's future. Economic restructuring, work reorganization, changing
hiring practices, and young people's increasing preference toward
higher education form the main challenges for the dual system. The
review of recent debates about the German dual system suggests that
youth apprenticeship initiatives in Canada need to provide students
with career options that are more transparent while at the same time
maintaining or increasing flexibility in the transition process.
Disability
Expenditures in Canada, 1970-1996: Trends, Reform Efforts and a Path
for the Future
Michele Campolieti and John N. Lavis
This
paper reviews the programs - both public and private - that comprise
the safety net for disabled persons in Canada. The paper has several
objectives. First, we describe the trends in program expenditures
in Canada between 1970 and 1996. Second, we discuss the plausible
explanations for these trends and, where possible, the empirical evidence
that establishes the relative importance of these explanations. Third,
we discuss reform efforts implemented in the 1990s which seek to secure
the financial viability of these programs. Finally, we discuss the
need for additional program coordination and benefit integration in
this system. If the support system for disabled persons in Canada
is to move toward a more harmonized system in the future, it will
be essential that these programs are examined and, if necessary, reformed
as a single system rather than as separate or separable systems.
