Employers stretch their workers to the limit

OTTAWA — Government inspectors will soon be able to enter workplaces unannounced to make sure employers approved to hire temporary foreign workers aren’t abusing their staff or committing fraud.

In the day job, I say that if productivity hadn’t fallen since the end of 2007, there would now be three million fewer people in work. This is just a simple mathematical claim. But it raises the question: what would have happened if productivity had kept growing at its pre-2007 rate? Would we really now have almost six million unemployed, or would there have been some offsetting mechanism to create jobs?

Peter Schiff submits: With today's unexpected decline in December payrolls, the cry for more job-related stimulus will grow even louder. But the sad truth is that any new stimulus or jobs bills will ultimately swell the ranks of the unemployed, thereby raising calls for an even bigger federal effort. If we are not careful, government regulations, subsidies, and spending, all designed to fight unemployment, could push the labor market into a death spiral.

Different things push each of us off balance at work. Some employees are thrown off by the slightest commotion, like street noise or swinging doors--while others believe their productivity is killed by bigger disruptions, like unscheduled meetings or frequent phone calls. But there is one thing that distracts almost everyone in the office: Noisy co-workers. A new survey by Ask.com, an online question answering service, found that a majority of U.S. employees (61%) agree that loud colleagues are the biggest office distraction.

OTTAWA — Amid a public outcry, the Conservative government is reversing controversial changes it made last year to the temporary foreign workers program. The government announced Monday that employers will no longer have some flexibility to set the wages for foreign labour, calling a halt to what was known as the 15 per cent rule. That rule allowed businesses to pay foreign workers up to 15 per cent below average wages for a job.

Looking for a loony idea to address unemployment in France? Look no further because I have a doozie. Via Google Translate from El Economista, France will create 150,000 jobs for young people without qualifications

"A happy worker is a productive worker". This might seem like a vomitorious cliche, but some experiments at the University of Warwick suggest that it's true.

Keith Olbermann was suspended for donating money to political campaigns. A New Jersey transit employee was fired for burning a Koran. A Connecticut woman was fired for complaining about her boss on Facebook. Guests discuss to what extent employers can limit what their workers say and do.» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us