I had a chat with the bulletin folders at Bridge St. UC, an amiable group of five seniors who come in every Friday morning to fold and put together the order of worship for Sunday. As we talked over coffee we got onto the subject of employment for younger people. I expressed my gratitude that all three of our adult children are employed. Yes, one has a long commute, another is working outside her field, another wondering what the long-term prognosis is for his vocation. But along with their partners two have purchased homes, all have vehicles, and they are able to address those nasty student loans.
We know that this is not the case for many in our society, even though they are well-trained and eager to work. It is a tough employment climate, both discouraging and frankly humiliating for a lot of young adults. Along comes Bank of Canada governor is Stephen Poloz with suggestions that it might help for some of these jobseekers to work for free. I understand what he was saying; search out any avenue possible to get into a difficult job market, making sure that there is something, anything, on a resume. But it came across as callous, a "let them eat cake" comment from someone who makes around half a million bucks a year. I bet his two kids, who are probably heading into the work world about now, won't be working anywhere for nothing. Poloz has connections which parents nearly always draw upon if they can help their children. They probably didn't or won't graduate from post-sec education with big debt because the children of those who with good employment are usually supported by parents.
I'm saying all this not to denigrate Poloz (okay, just a little), but to point out the injustices in a society which actually provides lots of opportunity for young people and even still isn't particularly fair. I'm not sure that there is much that Christian communities can do about this, but we should be prayerfully concerned for the future of our young people. Yes, hard work and determination still matters. I see it in my children and I'm proud of them. Saying this shouldn't diminish the plight of many.
Comments?
2 comments:
I think you are right - it is often "Who you know" rather than what you know ... and I don't know what we as church community can do - except look to our own when hiring, maybe???
In my opinion "working for nothing" violates our provincial labour laws. In university I was fortunate to have studied in the "co-op" system of studies. Our tuition was a little bit higher, but the idea was that we would be employed during our work terms and better able to finance our educations.
Un-paid, part-time placements during regular academic educational settings might be OK in certain circumstances.
The other thing is that unpaid work is only affordable for the children of the affluent. I understand that it has reached vile proportions where parents even make substantial donations to organizations to secure the unpaid internships of their children.
All of this is allowed to to grow along with the disparities in society.
Post a Comment