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My Monthly Views Paper
DECLINE OF THE SOCIAL SAFETY NET
Lack of Preparation for the Next Big One
January 22, 2007
A recession is coming. It may be already here, but we are being lied to, as usual by the Government. You all read the news about how unemployment figures in Canada have never been so low in 30 years. Anybody with half a brain can figure out that hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs have disappeared in Ontario, thanks to the privatization and rate hikes in the hydro sector. Job gains are in social services, health care, policing and corrections. Take a guess at where that comes from.
The government talks about unprecedented job creation, but does this really mean "family wage" jobs, or does it mean minimum wage or just slightly higher than minimum wage jobs, such as those at Wal-Mart and call centres? If they mean that they're building new businesses, I will believe them. Many "big box" stores are being built west side here, and while jobs may be spawned from them, I doubt many of them pay more than $8 or $9 an hour. If you have a family to support, this is certainly not going to work.
When people work at low wages, they often need two or three of these jobs just to keep afloat. Despite the downward shift in wages, I see no sign that the cost of housing, utilities, groceries, clothing and transportion are likewise spinning downward. If anything, they are only increasing. The bubble is bursting, and it will be completely blown up soon enough. We will see a shifting paradigm from a culture of entitlement that Canada once boasted of to the United Nations and to the world, to a culture of chronic reliance on charity and insecurity. People are no longer proud to be Canadian, as citizenship and residency in the country means nothing anymore.
As a disability advocate, I sometimes feel like I am spitting in the wind when I work on behalf of the large number of disadvantaged clients that I have. About half my O.D.S.P. clients are homeless before our final round of appeals to the Social Benefits Tribunal. W.S.I.B. clients wait extraordinary lengths of time to get any of their matters resolved. I've listened to threats of suicide, people fearing and sometimes actually losing their homes, people becoming more sick from the stress of the battle, as well as a minority of them breaking the law to express their anger at it all. The easiest to work with among all of them are C.P.P. and L.T.D. clients, even though it is harder to prove entitlement. Usually, these people are not left without resources like my other two categories of clients, as they usually have working spouses and other financial resources to draw upon while the battle lines are etched in stone.
Governments, insurance companies, and other social agencies like the W.S.I.B. have become leaner and meaner, while reaping ungodly surpluses for themselves. Employment Insurance ended up with over $13 billion in surpluses, while among those paying into the program, less than a third are eligible for benefits. Agencies always point to other agencies to say the "other guy" has to pay, but when you get to the "other guy", the "other guy" points to the original agency and says that the original agency should have paid. While this political football gets passed back and forth between government and administrative agencies, the injured party suffers.
In the meantime, the government continues to deny there are serious issues with the labour market that must be addressed. At the present time, there is a major bottleneck of baby boomers employed in the higher-paid, "good jobs" of the economy, while many better educated and trained people are continuing to work entry-level positions for longer periods of time than the prior generation did. This has culminated into economic trends that point to the obvious: people are living at home longer, waiting until their thirties to get married and have children, taking steps to protect any assets they do obtain, as well as sharing accommodations, even in one's forties. Those leaving college and university have larger student loans to repay, and lenders in this field are becoming leaner and meaner - and the option to reduce this debt through bankruptcy is left until ten years post-graduation.
This, in itself, is not the fault of the baby boomers, but the fault of the government and employers that allowed this to happen without planning for a better outcome and transition period that would work better in all of our interests.
At the same time, there are people coming to Canada in droves BECAUSE they are well-educated and practising a skilled trade or profession in their own countries. We welcome foreign-trained physicians, for example, on the premise that we are short of these workers here. We welcome highly skilled tradespeople on the basis that we need thousands in the short term to correct a shortage there. However, when they arrive in our country, there is a sudden disconnect where those who came here BECAUSE of their credentials, are suddenly shunned by the very industries that should be opening their doors, but are instead of slamming them shut. As a result, we have the best educated taxi drivers in the world. It took a lawsuit, as well as a powerful lobbying campaign to get our provincial government to even consider Bill 124, which is an attempt to alleviate some of this disconnect; however, I don't think things will be right in this department for a long time, yet the people this directly affects are getting older and further into debt.
Canadian-born, post-secondary trained persons with disabilities are in a similar position. We keep hearing about a so-called labour shortage in various occupations. Many people with disabilities go to school, get themselves into significant debt, only to be denied work above entry-level. For example, an M.B.A. may only be hired as a part-time volunteer coordinator at a recreational centre. A social work major may be hired only in a call centre at $10/hour. From what I am hearing, these are the lucky ones ... many do not find work at all, let alone work in their fields.
I personally know of five individuals who used to be lawyers, and for whatever reason, became disabled, and are now living on O.D.S.P. I was absolutely shocked that the Bar Association would let this happen to their own. However, I was advised that disability benefits are available to people at larger law firms, and such benefits are not necessarily tied to one's occupation (although some firms do provide "own occupation" policies). As with other individuals, not all people with disabilities can get long term disability insurance, even if they became disabled after they paid into a plan. For many, this is a pre-existing condition, or the plan's policy does not deem that person to be disabled enough to stop working altogether, so they end up resorting to O.D.S.P.
These people may want to work again, though perhaps, not as a lawyer. Directing them to call centres, secretarial or clerk jobs, is not going to do it for these people, or for anybody who has had professional credentials or above entry-level work experience behind them. I am not sure if there are disabled physicians around, but I am sure they do exist. I do however know there are persons trained as nurses, social workers, teachers, child care instructors, etc. who are also on O.D.S.P., but can't seem to get a leg up again in the paid workforce. They are looking for work where they can use some of their skills, but perhaps in a different occupation that may carry with it less stress, less hours or possibly, with an employer that is more accommodating of their specific disability. I don't know if any of these people planned to go on O.D.S.P. when they were finishing up their professional or post-secondary education credits, but I wouldn't be surprised if the answer was no.
When I raised this issue with another person I know, it was pointed out that many post-secondary educated people without disabilities are also falling by the wayside, forced to accept jobs at McDonald's, movie theatres and summer camps. This is despite the fact they still owe what is equal to a small mortgage for student loans, something that is forgiven for a short period of time, but eventually will catch up to all of them. Many people I work with have defaulted on their student loans, and with this on their record, it is unlikely they will be able to further advance their credentials, unless they were able to direct-pay for their education or find another funder for it, which is increasingly in short supply.
However, at the other end of this same coin, high school drop-outs are now being actively encouraged to return to school, and in return for this commitment to complete their diplomas, they are offered government jobs. These are not just menial, administrative tasks for the government, but jobs that expose the individual to meaningful contacts and give them some important skills, so that once they complete their diploma, who do YOU think is going to get hired for government jobs of the future? The post-secondary educated Joe Schmoe who couldn't find a job, and was forced to work at McDonald's to pay off his student loans, or one of those blokes who for whatever reason, were incapable or unwilling to complete the most basic of education expected of them in this province? You know the answer.
To me, the government has no obligation towards those who drop out of high school, other than to provide programs to encourage them to go back and complete their diplomas, or provide them with special resources, if they have learning disabilities preventing them from finishing. One such program, L.E.A.P. is such a program the government offers to young women who dropped out due to having babies. It provides them with full daycare subsidy, transportation, community support, as well as a paced high school diploma. There are no promised government jobs for these people, but after completion, many of these young women may go on to college and try to get into a decent field.
However, other than programs such as those identified above, I don't think a penny of public money should be spent on jobs for these people. Such jobs for the public sector should be tendered and appropriately awarded to those with the right qualifications - period. If a high school education is all that is required, then so be it. These are usually the labour jobs, such as janitorial, clerks and receptionist positions in the government, but they do require high school. Other jobs, such as in human resources, policy analysis, program management, and so forth, should be awarded to qualified persons with college and/or university. So, instead of offering drop-outs this kind of advantage, they should be dealing with the people who have qualifications first, foreign or otherwise.
Signing off, for now.
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