Employment Trends in Canada - Essay Example

Acknowledgements. Bibliography: "Sociology in our times" 4th Canadian Edition by Diana Kendall, Jane Lothian Murray, and Rick Linden. List of References:1. Economy Overview, 2001, Canadian Economy, retrieved on 14th February 2009 from: http://www.canadianeconomy.gc.ca/English/economy/overview.html2. Karl Marx, 1844, "Estranged Labor", Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844. Karl Marx, retrieved on 14th February 2009 from: http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/labour.htm3. Max Webber, (n.d), Weber's Theory of History, retrieved on 14th February 2009 from: http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2000/2000-December/022618.

htmlTotal Word Count of the Document: 624 words. (excluding the acknowledgements)Employment Trends in Canada.Introduction.This paper is an effort to study the effects of service based economy in the context of globalization on the current employment trends of Canada. The main concept on which the content of this paper rests, is the theory that some parallels exists between the employment trends of Canada and the Marx's theory of Alienated Labor and Weber's thesis on Dehumanization. Canadian Employment Trends: An Overview.

The employment trends of Canada shows a staggering rise in the employment rate. In between the years 1994 to 1998 about 1 million jobs were created and in 1999 alone more than 391,000 new jobs were created. (Economy Overview, 2001) This rise in the employment rate of the country reflects a profound economic boom in the country. The instrumental factor behind this economic and employment boom was the resurgence of the manufacturing sector and to a more extent, globalization. Globalization lead to the infusion of specialized trade, technological sectors into the country, hence leading to the creation of a serviced based economy.

This resulted in the generation of a whole new species of workers, the "knowledge workers". The knowledge workers were people having a college or an university degree and in time proved to be indispensible to the country that was seeking new horizons to modernize itself and expand its economy. Overall till the end of the year 1999 Canada's unemployment rate was down to a low of 7.6% on the average. . (Economy Overview, 2001) The Parallels.What these current trends of employment in Canada brings into the forefront is the rate of growth of employment in the country is a direct effect of globalization with knowledge-based industries and services based economy as the key generators of employment.

It is known fact that capitalism is a form of competition and competition on a global scale is Globalization. In Weber's thesis on 'Dehumanization' we can find how Weber was acutely aware of the effects Capitalism would have on increasing rationalization and dehumanization of life, though it may provide plenty of employment opportunities. (Weber's Theory of History n.d) Apart from Weber's thesis, Marx's work titled, "Estranged Labor" the thesis on alienated labor also corresponds to the employment trends of Canada.

According to this theory of estranged or alienated labor, says that, "the only wheels which political economy sets in motion are greed, and the war of the avaricious - Competition." (Marx, "Estranged Labor"). What this statement reflects is the same thing that, the corner stone on which capitalism or political economy rests is competition, the more the competition grows the better. And Globalization is nothing but competition on a global scale and though it helps in the generation of employments, as seen in the case of Canada, it also alienates a labor from the from the products he produces.

In the words of Marx, " the object that labor produces, its product, stands opposed to it as something alien, as a power independent of the producer. The product of labor is labor embodied and made material in an object, it is the objectification of labor. The realization of labor is its objectification. In the sphere of political economy, this realization of labor appears as a loss of reality for the worker, objectification as loss of and bondage to the object, and appropriation as estrangement, as alienation.

" (Marx, "Estranged Labor").Conclusion.The employment trends of Canada, that shows an immense growth in the rat of employment of the country is no more than the effects of globalization. With the rapid growth of technology and service based industries, opportunities for new employments is growing ever more. But the fact to ponder over here is that are not these globalization based industries making machines out of human beings