Apparently about 15% of the labour in Calgary still makes $12 an hour or less. However it's in the cockroach industries that moil the labour market for people that'll stay a few months. I think this should be discouraged, cut off. A $12 minimum wage would do it. There would be a loss of employers but in a growth economy this is fine.

The minimum wage is really only a fence against the worst employers. Employers that want someone to show up every day and stay for a year probably have to pay $13 an hour.

An idea is to make Calgary and Edmonton there own seperate minimum wage regions. Make it $12 while the provincial level would be $10 dollars. Some of the rural areas of Alberta are not as hot as the cities.

While I agree with you that minimum wage should be an amount that a person can make a decent living on, I must comment on your above quote.

A decent worker will show up every day, and work hard, regardless of pay. And a horrible boss paying $20 per hour will have as much trouble finding workers as a good boss will at $13 per hour.

Wages do not equal good, long term employees. But a decent living wage does equal a good economy.

He has no experience on the machine or in the sewer and water business but he is a hard worker.

In Western Canada at least there seems to be jobs everywhere. You can't drive down a road anymore without seeing "we are hiring" ads on company vehicles.

Like the nursing profession, the folks in the building trades are an aging workforce, and new memebers are in demand. Put a resume together and start visiting your local union offices. You will get work if you persist.

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Originally posted by jester:
I know a young guy who just moved from Prince george to Edmonton because his logging job is gone. He got a job operating a rubber-tired backhoe in Edmonton right away - 15 hours a day, monday to friday at $29/hr. Plus 10 hours standby time if there is no work on any workday.

He has no experience on the machine or in the sewer and water business but he is a hard worker.

The demand for labour will force wages up if lower wage earners refuse to accept minimum wage.

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Originally posted by Fidel:
I've met guys who said they had to catch someone screwing a pig down at the UI-EI-O office to get any training money out of them for heavy equipment licences. They want several thousand dollars for transport truck driver training. And bulldozer and excavation equipment courses are at a premium right now. Can't imagine who you'd have to know to become a crane operator.

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Everyone is climbing on the bandwagon with "training courses" for huge fees. Most of these courses are worthless because what they teach is only a part of the job requirement - a part that is the most easily absorbed by learning on the job.

EI training money is targetted to areas for political reasons,not economic ones and most of the training spots utilised to meet local political goals rather than broad-based goals to meet employment demand.

As an anecdotal example, I met a young fellow fresh from Ontario 3 weeks ago who started as a labourer,was put on a vibratory roller immediately and will be on a D-8 this week. He works 15/7 at $22. Once he has a (very) little experience, he will get a substantial raise from labourer to operator rate or, another company will headhunt him away.

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Originally posted by bruce_the_vii:
I work as a courier and have so for 10 years now. The bottom few percent of the work force is not the best, not neccessarily reliable people. In addition at the bottom people move around a lot. At these garage stations and donut shops that pay minimum wage you get a change of staff every few weeks. In Toronto you either pay a dollar or dollar fifty premium or live with an unstable workforce.

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You get what you pay for. If you make a positive contribution to the company,demand more money,citing how you can raise the company's revenues either by providing faster service or better service,allowing the company to charge more.

If the company chooses not to reward success, prefering to exploit talent and scrape the bottom of the talent barrel, move on and market yourself where to reward matches the motivation.

As a businessman, I will go for any cost to get my tender into the bidding process on time as opposed to paying 9 bucks for some mooks half-hearted attempt to not lose it.

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Originally posted by jester:
EI training money is targetted to areas for political reasons,not economic ones and most of the training spots utilised to meet local political goals rather than broad-based goals to meet employment demand.

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I agree. The skills taught in some courses are fabulous, if there was any market for them here in Canada. I think some workers tend to want to think there are opportunities in Canada in their chosen fields when there isn't. They are expected to figure it all out for themselves and spin the wheel.

I've read about kids in Germany who graduate from high school with anywhere from so-so marks to pretty good. Typically they are mentored by a number of trade union and business people who explain real opportunities available to them in the real world workforce. The kid with so-so marks wants to become an electrical or mechanical engineer, and that's realistic in countries like Germany if they can keep pace in school. The kid might be offered an apprenticeship with Opel or VW and starts learning the most advanced numerical manufacturing methods. $60, 000 USD right off the bat. In five year's time, his skills are sought after around the world.

In Canada the same kid is looking at huge student loan debt and takes the long path with McShift work flipping burgers. He may or may not graduate from college or university any number of years later. Very little in the way of cooperation between industry, public schools, and trade unions here in Canada. Education has become a privilege in Canada. Traditionally our feds have robbed talent from other countries to make up for the lack of skilled workers across Canada. Competition for the world's skilled workers and people with advanced degrees has increased over the last few years. There are reasons why Canada's economy has never rated among the top ten most competitive. Harvard economist and one-time advocate of flexible labour markets, Jeffrey Sachs, as well as Canada's Jim Stanford, have both said that we can learn from the Nordic countries.

[ 14 July 2008: Message edited by: Fidel ]

Canada views education as a revenue generating commodity and taxes both acquisition of education and private for-profit provision of education rather than the long view that an educated society will inherently make the country and its economy stronger.