Manufacturing jobs have been declining as a percentage of total jobs in most OECD countries for several decades, with Ontario being especially hard-hit as a jurisdiction. At the end of the Second World War, manufacturing jobs accounted for 26 per cent of all Canadian jobs; by 2007, this figure had dropped to just 12 per cent.
And as I've written about elsewhere, the Harper government has made substantial investments in university research in an effort to create "high-value" jobs, investing in such areas as genomics research and medical isotopes (albeit in a context of rising tuition and rising student debt).
But how's this for innovation: two days ago, President Obama taught Prime Minister Harper a lesson in dot-connecting, announcing "a $500 million endeavour through which universities and companies will be asked to develop innovations in manufacturing with the goal of expanding domestic employment."
If Mr. Harper isn't smart enough to steal this from Mr. Obama's playbook, maybe Mr. Layton will be.
Read the full article here.
This article was first posted on The Progressive Economics Forum.
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Nick Falvo appears to be blissfully unaware of the enormous crisis of our universities resulting from the increasing privatization, commercialization, and militarization of university funding and research. Universities have become almost completely integrated into the military-industrial complex, depending on corporations and warmongers for their funding, and turning themselves into job-training machines and recruitment centres for the masters of capital and war.
In the name of job creation, Falvo, following Obomba's lead, wants to make it even worse.
Whether it's Harper or Layton that drives the last spike into the heart of the independence and academic freedom of our universities makes no difference. But Falvo will be cheering it on as "innovation".
Universities increasingly turn to corporations for much needed cash