Social justice and the economics of the minimum wage
Our goal should be decent wages for all workers. The way to get there is to push for higher productivity in low-wage sectors by raising wages while maintaining full employment.
Fair Wages
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Talk of “the end of jobs” hides real labour market issues
The problem with the “end of jobs” narrative is that it disarms us by suggesting that massive technological forces out of our control are most to blame for our problems. That is not the case.
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The case for raising the minimum wage
What we need is higher productivity in low wage industries, and a higher minimum wage floor will help to do the job.
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Questioning the so-called “Canadian Dream”
This well-known story of declining real earnings of younger workers is seemingly inconsistent with a story of increasing family incomes of children relative to their parents.
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Affordable housing increasingly illusory in Vancouver, Toronto
These data point to stark and growing disparity between incomes and housing prices since 2005, far outstretching a related but less pronounced trend in the rest of the country.
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Alberta gets it right on $15 minimum wage
This is the kind of bold leadership needed in the rest of Canada to make headway on combatting inequality, poverty and to create the conditions for a growing economy that benefits everyone.
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On inequality, wages and bargaining power matter
Government obsessions with keeping inflation low resulted in the relatively high unemployment rates of the 1980s and 1990s. And when unemployment is high, worker bargaining power is reduced.
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Fifteen dollar an hour minimum wage fight comes to Canada
We’ve seen effective campaigns around minimum wages and precarious work in the United States, sponsored in part by various unions.
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Harper Government Continues Attack on Labour Rights
Unions are democratic organizations that belong to their members. As such, they are an important voice in the democratic political process.
