Survival-of-the-Fittest Employment Policy

Published on April 1, 2000

The research for this report was undertaken at the request of the Partners for Jobs Working Group spearheaded by the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton. The purpose of this report is to identify the policy barriers that make it difficult or impossible for unemployed Canadians to participate in training or in the paid labour market. The paper first explores the barriers in the overall policy context: no coordinated approach, no coherent progression, lack of national vision, the ‘creaming’ effect, lack of stable financing and lack of transitional supports. It then describes the policy barriers in the components of the employment system in Ontario: Employment Insurance, federal-provincial labour market agreements, Ontario training, student loans, disability programs and Ontario Works. The paper discusses how the philosophical shifts that underlie major income security programs and their associated employment supports have spawned a ‘do-it-yourself’ approach to training. Prospective workers must develop their employment plans and seek out a training provider from the private market. The unemployed are basically on their own. This policy context is problematic not only because it leaves out many people who require guidance and additional support. It is also a problem in a knowledge-based economy in which well-trained human resources are the key to success for both workers and employers. A haphazard, uncoordinated patchwork quilt will not create the kind of targeted, high-quality skills required in a rapidly evolving knowledge economy.