Financial Times article: The Canada Conundrum
Worth the read.
It is a good, if short read; a bit light on solutions.
While there are a host of things that need to be done.
I will reiterate my a 2-point labour standards argument.
1) We need higher paid vacation and shorter work weeks (I don't mean below 40 hours, I mean below the range of 44-48 before overtime pay kicks-in)
This has a couple of immediate effects.
Studies clearly show that worker productivity rises when hours are shorter and vacation goes up, people are better rested, and more motivated, their creativity can also be recharged by a full 2 week vacation.
The second reality is simply that most salaried workers (as distinct form shift workers in retail/security/manufacturing) will, in fact, at minimum maintain their current output if they get 1-2 weeks additional vacation, which is a literal rise in productivity per hour.
** Note that as long as the immediately above is true, you really do make a very significant statistical difference.
Watch this:
Canada's GDP per hour worked according to the OECD:ian
If you simply hold Canadian output steady, but add the 2 weeks paid vacation (4% fewer hours worked per person), you drive the GDP per hour number up from ~104 to ~108 which takes from the bottom quartile to the top half, roughly in line with Denmark.
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2) Raise wages
This assists in 2 discrete ways.
a) The higher wage literally add direct economic output as reflected in cost of goods sold; but also indirectly by having a consumer who can in turn buy and invest in more.
b) The higher cost of labour drives productivity investment such as training, software and automation.
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That low-hanging fruit out of the way..........
We really need to look at:
1) Internal trade barriers and labour-mobility barriers.
2) The impact of large oligopolies across many industries, notably Grocery, Agriculture (Dairy/Pork/Chicken); Banking, and Telcos.
3) We need to foster greater venture capital
4) We need to shift our educational strategy away from Diploma-mill nonsense and to both STEM and vocational/trade skill sets.
5) Canada must also do a better job leading strategic initiatives to take advantage of our international trade opportunities.
Of course there's infinitely more than could be said on this subject, but I think I'll cut myself off there for the moment!