Subject: Unemployment

Posted by Bill Rathborne on 3/11/2009
In Reply To:Unemployment Posted by Jack Harich on 3/11/2009

Message:

Canada has long had policies in Provincial and Federal funding & "job adjustment" programs to offer retraining for displaced workers. Auto workers become plumbers and electricians. East coast fishery workers go to Alberta to work in the "oil patch". The proverbial favourite is everyone becomes a Real Estate agent! They all provide some financial support to make the transition. I am not aware of any "measurements"
that indicate whether these are indeed effective in either an individual or macro-economic sense. The big challenge in today's across-the-board meltdown is that there is no where to "go" to. In theory, some great skills matching algorithm - presumably internet based - maximizes the outcome. Where significant "shifts" in economic activity are occurring, and a significant number of surplus workers can be retrained to migrate into the "growth" opportunities there may be some payoff. In reality, however, the political benefits are probably the greatest motivator.

This is one situation where politicians cannot take a "free market" - you are on your own - approach!

Bill