4" Wedinésitae "April 16!1986 —

debate, and also in the , unemployment levels,

Bob Hunter

‘ North ‘Share’ News *

© strictly personal

"LOS ANGELES - — in the context of the free ‘trade

context of the staggering

especially among youth, .

* British Columbia, it is worth looking at the situation in the United States concerning jobs and wealth —

: seegeh

without getting hung up on Canadian cultural identity, which is a red herring if I ever heard of one.

While everybody back home i is learning about ‘structural’? pro- blems which may mean that Ca- nadian youth will stay ‘unem- ployed forever (even though they won't be youth forever), it is worth looking at the situation in the land of the free, the brave and the optimistic. j

Do you know what | they’re worrying about down here? Labor shortages!

That's right, even with millions of Mexicans streaming across the southern border, the Yanks, God bless 'em, are concerned that the big problem they are going to have to deal with in the next five to 10 years is the shortage of bodies to fill all the job that are

opening up. | - This is quite a switch in at- titudes from B.C., where

pessimism and nihilism fill the air like the smog that Los Angeles used to have to deal with before ’ the city began to actually come to grips with its pollution problem. Not’ incidentaily you. can walk around’ in L:A.. any time of the ” year now — ‘except, [I’m told in “the autumn — and see every bit as far as you can in Vancouver.

Here are some figures which may be of interest. not only to parents, like me, who are trying to backstop the trauma of their ‘grown: up kids struggling to find a niche in the rather pathetic ex- cuse for: a. Canadian job market, but to the youths themselves:

: ‘According to Sheryl Silver, an JL.A. career. planning specialist, the United’ States. created seven | million. new jobs between 1983 and’ 1984, and entrepreneurs launched more than 700, 000 new | businesses.

LaF unemployment levels’. re- “mained at. the: awesomely high figure of 7% nation-wide (terri- | ble, eh?), it was only because “‘baby boomers and women were flooding ‘the job market, and massive «lay-offs were occurring in some of the country’s tradi- tional industries,”’

Now, however, the American job scene is dominated by the fear that further growth will. be crippled by the ‘‘‘baby bust generation.’’ That is, ‘‘there is still an insufficient number of trained and experienced profes- sionals’ to fill the slots coming -open asa result of the creation of “‘millions’’ of new white collar ’ jobs, which are, by far the mainstream. of Ametican _employment patterns. oe

_come up to Canada seeking jobs. “There aren’t

‘mark anymore, but something is

Agricultural, service and blue-collar jobs are rapidly ap- proaching the point of —in- significance, compared to . the burgeoning high-tech workforce.

Ms. Silver notes that ‘“‘the decreasing number of workers coupled with the increases in job creation mean greater marketabi- lity and leverage with potential employers.

‘Whether you're a_ recent high-school or college graduate, a re-entering homemaker, mid- career changer or older worker seeking to continue your career after age sixty-five or seventy, your professional options should

be more diversified and ]-

numerous because of these changing conditions.”

The Jong and the short is that, by 1990, ‘‘there will be six mil- lion fewer teenagers entering the workforce than was the case in 1980.”

God forbid that I should say ““Go south, young person.’’ Yet, privately, that is what I’m sorely tempted to say to my kids. Are you going to hang around an economic Black Hole out of na- tionalistic pride? Come on!

The unemployed legions of young people in Canada, facing lifetimes on the dole, would do well to consider the prospect that their modern American cousins accept as “‘normal’’.

In a phrase: jobs, jobs, jobs.

If free trade turns out to in- clude the privilege of. going.south to find . work and being: WANTED, NEEDED, SOUGHT AFTER, and all that glorious kind of stuff — well, hell, go for’ it!

The Yanks aren’t goirig. to

any. As far. as- they’re concerned, we're kind of North American: sleepy. Cute. Subsidized. Half-socialist. Taxed to death.’

It’s not just the young who stand to gain at least .in America — from the changing pattern. Women and oldsters are already being encouraged to “continue working on a part time or full time basis, whichever they prefer.’’ :

And meanwhile, back onthe oid home turf, everybody is paranoid about getting any work at all. I don’t know about | anything being rotten in Den-:

rotten in Canada, that’s for sure.

Staff competitions,

not ‘open’

IN A 5-2 vote ‘Monday, North ° ‘Vancouver City Council defeated a ‘motion to.have city senior staff positions routinely subject to open competition.

~ Ald.Allan Blair, who gave the “notice of motion April. 7, told council that his proposal was | “designed ‘to fill a small but im- portant gap in our policy (of hiring

'. staff)."’

In_ his notice ‘of motion, Blair explained that ‘‘good internal can- didates have nothing to fear from

Jin City |

open. competition.”

Ald. Elko Kroon said ‘of the mo- -

tion: ‘It doesn’t do justice to the: people who are serving us now.’* Ald. Ralph Hall said he thought the motion would take away some of council’s flexibility in“ filling

‘staff positions, if all vacancies had

to be filled through open competi- - tions. “y believe the merit,’’ Blair replied. Blair: and Ald. Stella Jo Dean voted in favor of the motion.

motion has

nificate: eateries Aa

; THE: * CASUAL: WEAR: STORES fos Ce “Capitano Mall

A BOOTLEGGER WARDROBE § FIRST: PRIZE: $300.00 WARDROBE SECOND PRIZE: $100.00 WARDROBE

TO BE DRAWN FOR ON APRIL.21, 1986

No surenase, a necessary Sutected entrants must answer a guilt tessng Question, — t cesg date Close of busmess Apel 19 1986

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