Jonathan Li's Blog

Problems with Retraining in our current Economy:

In our current economy “changing careers later in life isn’t easy, and governments continue to fund retraining programs at great expenses.” Evidence from an earlier paper suggest that there’s “little evidence” that current retraining programs are helping. Craig Riddell, an economic professor at the University of British Columbia explained that training wasn’t simply the answer, he suggested that mobility assistance would be just as effective. This meant moving people from areas of limited opportunities to areas where there was a higher demand / offering more opportunities.
Noticeable barriers that need to be evaluated are the slow pace in job creation. In a interesting “youtube” clip called “Did You Know 3.0” very similar to the clip shown in my comm 101 class “Social Media Revolution”. These facts portrayed the evolution of our world in terms of technology, culture, and education. One fact that is especially applicable to the lack of job is: “We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist”. This shows the overwhelming amount of change in our future as well as the lack in current jobs in this day.
Other barriers that workers experience is age discrimination as they must “compete [against] younger, applicants with more experience in the new field.” These barriers are very problematic as immigrants arrive at Canada certified as MBA’s and PHD’s in their home country yet, their diploma and education is refuted in Canada. This imbalance is disruptive in our economy as these knowledgable individuals are stuck in a situation where they must find a middle class job, yet have a skill set that can be utilized in higher education.
Conversely, the barrier or lacking education is also apparent, however the expenses of education can not usually be financed by many individuals creating a large workforce that lack job opportunities. These barriers, combined with the unpredictable labour market demand. The fluctuations can vary from year to year making our current economy unstable.

Recommendations and thoughts:

In the article, apprenticeship, co-op programs are highly recommended as they tend to improve outcomes in our economy. I believe that the ultimate strategy is to drive our current education system in creating new jobs and developing alternate job opportunities at lower scales, requiring less specific skill sets.