Information Technology and the Canadian Economy - Essay Example

Information Tech. and the Canadian Economy Affiliation Information Technology and the Canadian Economy Introduction The growth of an economy depends on the type of people who fill the available jobs. For any sustainable economy, well educated, and skilled people are required to take up jobs. The New Global Economy of the 21st century has made a transformation in all the countries leaving no choice but to adapt to the changes which have come up especially in the information technology (IT) sector. The projected growth of population in Canada of 29.9 percent between 2009 and 2036 and a drop of participation rate in the economy from the current 67 percent to 64 percent, several changes have to be made in the labor force to ensure there is sustainability in the economy. Analysis shows that there is progress however, without further action there is an alarm. The jobs of the future will be faced with several changes which need to be addressed using technology. There is need for the men and women to be equipped with necessary skills in order to take up these jobs effectively. Low education levels as a setback has to be addressed. In the bid to have the right people for the right jobs, there is the need to ensure men and women have the right skills for the job which will be catalyzed by the fast changing technology. There is the need to shift from the age of certificate qualifications and move up to the levels of degrees and well heights beyond secondary education. Some laws should be put into effect and necessary changes made in the education systems . There is the need to consider all groups in the job market and ensure they are all represented as there has been historical under-representation of some groups for example women, immigrants, the youth and the disabled. This is in line with focusing on future trends in the job market as opposed to just concentrating on the current jobs. In the seventeenth century, there was Mercantilism, which is a system of triangular trade for economic exploitation by the colonizing powers. This is relative to the common day economic globalization. Modern globalization is accompanied by change in the political, economic, social, environmental, cultural, and religious aspects, which in the sense of information technology regard have the capability of virtual connectivity. This will enhance the relaying of information and linking of labor forces. The age limit proposed is to go up from 65 years to 67 years and has necessitated the growth of the people over 60 years to participate. As well, education for immigrants through adopted policies is crucial since it raises the growth of immigrants’ participation. A study shows that among a 100 percent of graduates, 24.5 percent are underemployed. The youth of Canada unemployment rate was at 14.2 percent in 2013 as per statistics. As much as the graduates are employed, the fact that they are underemployed means that there is a less qualified youth who would have taken the job and done it better yet theyve been rendered unemployed by the employment of graduates in the positions they would fit in. The Canadian government seeks to create a job grant in which it will share in the creation of educational grants of up to $15,000 with the business community to encourage students to take up skills with shortages. If the program succeeds, it will be a major boost to the economic growth. Consequently, more youth participation will be witnessed. The objection of the grant from some of the parties, however, might hinder speedy implementation. As much as the grant is very vital and viable, there is the need for it to be executed with support from both the business and the government. The labor market requires an improvement on the information systems. The data and information gathered is in such a way that using it is difficult since it is not robust. The future labor provision should ensure robust data in the information systems to ensure ease of use of all data and information concerning labor. As research reveals, information nightmares emanate from disputes within the federal-provincial jurisdiction disputes in several aspects of economic development responsibilities and education among others (Anderson, Varnhagen, & Campbell, 1998). The oncoming labor market requires a good foundation right from the onset hence significantly; career counseling in schools should be heightened. Currently, decisions are made by students and their parents basing on old "realities" which is an idea that should be scrapped from the education systems. The right choice of a career is a key pillar in the right steering and realization of an improved labor force. As the job market is changing with a high regard in job transition as much as initial market entry is, there is the need for flexibility. Learning institutions need to adopt an educational system factoring flexibility, relevance, timeliness, and affordability. This has been triggered by global change, dynamics in technology and vast competition in the global market. The education system should emphasize on the employment of skill oriented culture which will no longer have a monopoly on reading skills, numeric, communication, and ethics but give the technical knowledge and its employment in the market. This has been proved to work as the global emphasis on on-job and vocation training becomes bedrock in shaping skills for all successful organizations and should be critically included in the transcripts to account on probable technical and literal know how in related fields (Blankenship, 1998). The trend of several university institutions giving graduates who are later rendered to a one-year or two-year term in a college is unmanageable in terms of time and finance. The system should be in such a way that if a college student spends 2 years and a University student 4 years of study, then the University student should technically have more advancement in a margin of 2 years. This will give more satisfaction in the finances spend, and the achievement gained. The Canadian labor market in the future will require vast knowledge in Information technology. The global economys dependence on information technology and most systems shifting to production based on IT systems, theres the need for the labor force to get graduates with technical knowledge in technology. This should trickle down to the education system to ensure students are equipped with IT basics (Isleem, 2003). The government as well should give a consideration in promoting technology systems and allocate budgets on the same. This should range from learning institutions to government offices including the general business community. Funding is the key factor in this respect hence grants will come in handy (Bennett, & Bennett, 2003). Education in entrepreneurship and trade is vital. Canada being a country with vast land and a relatively small population is highly depended on international trade due to the ratio of the population. Learning institutions adoption of training regarding trade and business is crucial to the market. Additionally, the labor market should be technically encouraged to engage in technical trade and exploit the potential within the land. A demographic boom is in coming. Demography and all factors surrounding population and the needs or dynamics in sustaining a steady economic growth are essentially vital for Canada. The mismatch of skills will probably get worse and should be countered before a crisis occurs (Anderson, Varnhagen, & Campbell, 1998). To mitigate this, the following should be done: 1. Increasing labor market anticipation rates, 2. Improve on labor market information systems, 3. Improve on career guidance for the students and their parents, 4. Concentrate on literacy and employment skills, 5. Invest in education for historically underrepresented groups, and 6. Increase diversity of post-secondary programs that will better align with the labor market Since the problems are large, and they cant magically disappear, a few things should be done to ensure their success. These include: 1. Hard work, 2. Hard thought, 3. Commitment to the change Canada should check and put emphasis on the following: Capital flows, Reality checks especially in free trade, Global interdependence, and competitiveness in the global trading forums In conclusion, the future labor of Canada is set to be based on robust data and information systems, Robust Information Technology (RIT) systems, Enhanced literacy and employment skills, more training in entrepreneurship and trade, exploitation of all opportunities in international forums. The Education system, the government, and the business community should be incorporated to provide all the necessities for the right labor force to be attained (Braak, 2001). References Anderson, T., Varnhagen, S., & Campbell, K. (1998). Faculty Adoption of Teaching and Learning Technologies: Contrasting Earlier Adopters And Mainstream Faculty. The Canadian Journal of Higher Education. Bennett, J., & Bennett, L. (2003). A Review of Factors That Influence the Diffusion of Innovation When Structuring A Faculty Training Program. Internet and Higher Education. Blankenship, S.E. (1998). Factors Related To Computer Use By Teachers In Classroom Instruction. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Braak, J.V. (2001). Individual Characteristics Influencing Teachers’ Class Use of Computers. Journal of Educational Computing Research. Isleem, M I. (2003). Relationships of Selected Factors and the Level Of Computer Use For Instructional Purposes By Technology Education Teachers In Ohio Public Schools: A Statewide. The Ohio State University. 2: The Economic Role of Innovation for a More Prosperous Canadian Economy Introduction The economic prosperity of Canada has undergone phases of changes based on four spheres which include social, economic, political, and economic evolutions. Under political evolution, stability of the economy is achieved through the development and establishment of regulatory policies that favor businesses, industries, and education among other factors. Based on the need for more economic operational strategies, academic institutions offer research to industries which benefit from innovations optimizing processes and developing products that make the production process manageable and financially sustainable. Discussion The development of an economic stability for any given nation is based on the availability of resources and strategic deployment of those resources. While naturally occurring resources require extraction and processing in other areas, human resources and other inputs are required. However, based on time-factor and utilization of other available resources, technological input is required to hasten the process and make good use of time as resource. All for profit-companies require the management of resources to ensure that they are able to meet their financial and operational missions. Technology is referred as an input whose role is to ensure that a company’s productivity is manageable and sustainable in the long run. Technology is a term used to represent products and processes that facilitate the production of useful products and services to serve a specific market gap. Market gaps provide investors with opportunities to invest in order to fill that gap and stabilize the economy of the entity at hand (Casmar, 2001). With reference to the Canadian economy, research shows that years of industrial, social, and political revolutions have contributed and nurtured economic revolution. Starting with political revolution, it is seen that European settlers and explorers sought to trade with other nations by extracting and processing resources to their best of their abilities in order to sustain political power as well as influence. From political eras that did not have respect for property to a democratic political scene which appreciates and aims at encouraging both foreign and local investment, it is clear that political revolution has contributed to support of innovative industries and contributed to a stable economy within the Canadian context. Secondly, social revolution as contributed to movements that aim at improving the output of the society in terms of academic excellence and nurturing of talents and skills. Social revelation has seen society members move from traditional methods of acquiring knowledge such as observations and use of analogue systems. From traditional methods of acquiring knowledge to contemporary methods of acquiring and managing knowledge, the innovative nature of current generations has enabled higher productivity of academic institutions such as colleges and universities. These institutions aim at preparing students to be competent in various fields required in the development of the Canadian economy. With reference to the number of courses offered in contemporary higher learning institutions, it is observed from various sources that relying on innovate solutions have increased the society expectancy from students joining various industries from different institutions. Traditionally, students would be exposed to theoretical non-technical education which limited the number of people making it to the technical industries. However, following the social revolution which has gradually changed the mentality of students over time, it is clear that more students are taking their respective courses with a complementary course in information technology. Current employers differ from traditional employers as they seek to uphold the benefits of the theory of the firm. To make profits and reduce costs, employers seek a workforce that is highly technical and competent in addressing information-technology-associated challenges (Hoerup, 2001). Information-technology-associated challenges within the corporate affect industries and businesses of all types and models. Following on industrial revolution, it has been documented that traditional industries involved the trading of materials such as wool, iron, gemstones, cotton, and other labor-intensive products. As economies required more resources to meet increasing population demand, more had to be done before the industries overtraded. Overtrading in the act of taking more orders than a business model is capable of delivering to customers. From labor-intensive jobs, the economic stability cannot be achieved and therefore the need to complement the traditional processes of production has been eminent to the Canadian economy. The use of machines to replace part of labor intensity has seen the emergence of new industries such as mining, oil drilling, processing raw materials in various companies, and availability of manageable and sustainable means of transport. However, the use of machines in industries and companies has represented only one step to in industrial revolution. Computerized systems have emerged in the last 2 decades as replacements of labor-intensive operations. Remarkably, the employment of computerized systems has resulted in more profitable industries as operations’ optimization has increased the output of these industries. Operations optimization involves the strategic deployment of resources within a specified timeframe to accomplish a specific predetermined goal. The overall and economic utilization of resources involves the use of the right amount of material or input to produce a specific well-defined product or service (Isleem, 2003). From industrial revolution and the need for optimization of operations in different companies across different industries has influenced the manner in which academic institutions manage and disburse knowledge to students. The four spheres of social, political, economic, and industrial revolutions act as a cycle as each of these spheres affect each other and the results can be analyzed by identifying the economic stability. Currently, the Canadian economy is not doing as good as a developed nations would be doing. With reference to difference in currency value between Canada and her close trade ally, U.S., shows that the mix of the four spheres is not optimized to bring about the desired stability and sustainability of the Canadian economy. While political stability is achieved, policies that oversee the academic sector aim at providing students with the most reliable environment to interact with computerized systems in their studies. On the other hand, with the emergence of contemporary tech companies, technical knowhow to influence production of new products/services and processes is required within the academic curriculum. Through research and development, higher learning institutions provide insight into what innovations can be used in different industries to ensure higher economic output (Light, 1998). Socially, society members seek to educate their students in institutions that offer technical courses such as computerized business modelling, programming, and information technology in general. According to the forces shaping an economy, education is considered the foundation as it nurtures students whose duty is to fill future positions in different industries. Additionally, students aiming at being future investors require technical knowhow to develop sustainable innovations that not only support an economy but also capable of reducing production costs while maintaining a quality and increasing value. For instance, the production of automobiles was once labor-intensive, then came a time when machines would provide essential assistance. Currently, automobile companies use automated systems relying on computer systems to manufacture spare parts and to assemble the automobiles. This example shows that reduction of costs by eradicating labor-intensive tasks has increased the quality of automobiles while at the same time increasing productivity of the companies (Martin, 2003). Conclusion Under the discussed benefits of innovation and the connectivity of social, political, industrial, and economic revolutions, the Canadian economy has intensively relied on innovations as these have contributed in the optimization of activities. Optimization of industrial activities relies on higher education institutions that provide research useful to these industries. In addition, demand and increased population have required companies and industries to filter specific technical competences such that they can increase their returns on investment while at the same time sustaining the Canadian economic prosperity. References Casmar S.P. (2001). The Adoption of Computer Technology by Faculty in a College Of Education: An Analysis of Administrative Planning Issues. Washington State University. Hoerup, S.L. (2001). Diffusion of an Innovation: Computer Technology Integration and the Role of Collaboration. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Isleem, M I. (2003). Relationships of Selected Factors and the Level of Computer Use for Instructional Purposes by Technology Education Teachers in Ohio Public Schools: A Statewide. The Ohio State University. Light, P.C. (1998). Sustaining Innovation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Martin, M.H. (2003). Factors Influencing Faculty Adoption Of Web-Based Courses In Teacher Education Programs Within The State University Of New York. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Read More