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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1994-04-20, Page 5v m Arthur Black Want to join the Lead Pencil Club? So. Is there a computer in your life? If this was a kitchen table instead of a newspaper column I know exactly what I'd see when I asked that question. Ten percent of you would nod smugly. Of course you have a computer. Used one for years. Don't know how you ever got along without it. Twenty percent of you would waggle your heads apologetically. Yeah, you work with a computer alright, but you don't want to brag about it. In fact, you don't much like even thinking about it. And the other 70 per cent of the audience? Forget them. They've already flipped the page and moved on towards the Sports Section. Computers. They've invaded all our lives, whether we love 'em or loathe 'em. Computers govern our grocery purchases, our income tax returns, our traffic lights. It's an amazing development when you think about it. When I was knee high to a spreadsheet, the only computer in the world was a multi-million dollar monster called UNIVAC, so big and so complex it took up an entire city block in upstate New York. International Scene Unemployment — plague of the 90s BY RAYMOND CANON You can tell that unemployment has become more than just a problem faced by Canadians of all ages when the leaders of the seven largest industrialized countries waste no time in accepting an invitation by U.S. President Bill Clinton to discuss the matter at a two-day conference in Detroit, a city that should know better than almost any community what unemployment is all about. With the exception of Japan, all the major countries invited are looking at rates near or above the 10 per cent level, but even the official figures are suspect since they do not reflect the number that have dropped out of the job-hunting scene because they have had no luck whatsoever in finding any work. I have written about unemployment a couple of times in the past but I felt that the Detroit conference merited a few comments, one of which that there did not seem to be any great number of solutions offered for consideration. Many of the speeches revolved around the necessity of better re­ training procedures; I would agree that this should be done and to a certain extent already is but this solution is anything but adequate; the Detroit proposals were simplistic in nature and not guaranteed to fill anybody with confidence for the future. Many (but not all) of the jobs lost are in the low or medium skilled area and this is just as true in Canada as it is south of the border or in Europe. How often have we read during the past few years how a giant corporation has decided to "downsize" (cconomicspcak for fire people) in order to rationalize their operation? This has come about for a number of reasons, including automation, globalization of operations and increased competition Forty years later I can walk into Radio Shack and buy a machine that docs twice the work. And I can pay for it with a week's salary and carry it out of the store in one hand. Some experts feel the advent of the computer is as big a deal to the development of humankind as the discovery of fire or the invention of the wheel. They could be right. All I know is, it has not been love at first sight. Oh, kids seem to lake to computers naturally, almost genetically. But a lot of 'older folk’ - and I reluctantly count myself among them - instinctively resist the computer tidal wave that is engulfing us. We resist for a number of reasons. For one thing the language of computers is not exactly seductive. Look at a computer keyboard and you see alien inscriptions such as SHELL, SETUP, ALT, CTRL. Not to mention peremptory commands like TABS ALIGN, MERGE CODES, END FIELD AND MACRO DEFINE. Secondly there's the sheer, mind-blurring instability of the Computer World. Hardware and software innovations arrive at warp speed and yesterday's state of the art wonders are whisked into oblivion in a flash. Everyone I know is afraid to buy anything new. They know it'll be obsolete before they get the wrapping paper off. We feel like so many CCM one-speed bicycles quivering on the soft shoulder of the By Raymond Canon from nations emerging from third-world status. Even the Mexicans have every right to be concerned; the jobs that have left the U.S. and Canada for that country may, in a few years, be heading for such places as Vietnam, China, Indonesia, or Burma. It is also noteworthy that some of the jobs that left Canada for Mexico have now come back. One of the things that I teach all my Economics classes is called the law of comparative advantage which indicates that countries should concentrate on doing those things that they do relatively better than other countries. Every country has some of these advantages. In the U.S. it could be aircraft, robotics, many types of capital goods, agriculture and services. For Canada it might mean telecommunications, medical research, infrastructure, or computer software, with some services thrown in as well. Much as we might like to be self-sufficient in as many products and services as possible, it is not on the cards in a global economy of which we are a part. One thing that did come out at the Detroit conference, but which had become increasingly obvious long before that, is that the more protected and rigid labour markets are, the higher will be the level of unemployment. Such things as minimum wage laws, payroll taxes, laws to control working hours and high lax rates on workers when their benefits are withdrawn. Not one of these is a major cause but together they do their bit to drive up both short and long-term unemployment. Another problem is too generous unemployment insurance benefits. Most such plans, including Canada's, were set up as a form of term insurance; they have come to play a great role in a country's welfare programs. Every country that has fallen into this trap has its horror stories to relate; one famous Information Highway. Ah, yes. The latest buzz phrase in the Computer World. The Information Highway is the thoroughfare all of us arc supposed to be travelling, along with our computers, our modems and our Internet access codes. What is the Information Highway exactly? Where does it run? Is there a cloverleaf that'll drop me off in my home town? How about Accommodation/Food/Fucl? If things get scary, can I make a U-turn and go back to good old gravel secondary roads? If these questions about the Brave New Disc Operating System World perplex you, allow me to introduce the Lead Pencil Club. The Lead Pencil Club describes itself as 'a pothole on the Information Highway.' Members of the club vow to abstain from E- mail, voice mail and fax machines. The club's credo warns that if technophiles (read computer nerds) have their way "We will have raced at incredible speeds on the Information Superhighway to reach our final destination - Nothing." Want to join the club? Couldn't be simpler. Just write to: The Lead Pencil Club P.O. Box 380 Wainscott, N.Y. 11975 And I don't want to tell you how to write a letter, but here's a hint. Make sure it isn't a computer printout, okay? has only to look al Newfoundland to see the truth of that in Canada. I know that a lot of people do not like to listen to economists; any profession that brings so much bad news deserves to be called the "dismal science." However we have been saying for some time that returns on general education are higher than those on specific training since education is transferable while many skills are job­ specific. In this respect the Americans have the farthest to go but in some respects I think that we are not loo far behind. The Germans, who take forever and a day to graduate from university, might also learn something from this. At any rate firms are going to have to be more flexible with their training programs, whether it be to learn the use of new technology or how to work in teams. Anything that I say on a complex subject in such a short article is bound to raise many questions; I hope it does. We have to think long and hard about unemployment; after all the great depression was not cured overnight, nor was inflation. It seems we always have one economic problem to plague us. Could it be that we never manage to learn our lesson from one problem and thereby are forced to suffer all over again? Got a beef? The Citizen welcomes letters to the editor. They must be signed and should be accompanied by a telephone number should we need to clarify any information. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 1994. PAGE 5. By Bonnie Gropp The woes of finding summer employment From summer to summer the years roll on and for many of the university and college students, who will be wrapping up another year of education within the next few weeks, summer means moving from the halls of academia to the walls of business. Finding employment when school is out is not as much a taste of independence as it is a necessity for today's higher learning students. Even secondary school students now spend much of their free time after school and in the summer working at a part- time job. When I was a teen, having a part-time job was the exception, not the rule. One of my friends worked because her parents owned a business and the children were expected to help out. Another friend worked to pay for the nice clothes she liked that her mother wouldn't buy her, but for most adolescence was a carefree time of schoolwork and fun. I remember my first job. I worked after school and on Saturday afternoons for the singular purpose of feeling financially independent. My lakchome pay each week of about $15 saw to my needs quite nicely. I didn't have to mooch off Dad and Mom to buy a cheeseburger and was able to pay my way to the movies or into a dance. It was money to fulfill teenage needs. The essentials, like clothing and fuel for the car, were still taken care of out of the parents' pocketbooks. The tale is a little different these days, however. Oh, certainly, teens in the beginning want the freedom that comes with having their own money. Money brings satisfaction and pleasure by enabling you to buy what you want, as well as teaching valuable lessons on budgetting and overspending. Also, there is a sense of maturity in not having to come to Mom and Dad with your hand out when you see something you'd like to own. Unfortunately, as kids reach college age, having a summer job takes on larger proportions. With an 18 per cent unemployment rale with companies making budget cuts, finding work in the summer is becoming more of a challenge to students than getting good grades. And since education costs have increased over the years by 58 per cent, for many financially strapped parents, the prospect of their child attending a school of higher learning depends in part, on that child making enough money in the summer to help out. Also, with emphasis placed today on skills as much as education, a student's job and hands-on experience may be his passport to future success. When I was young I never thought about being broke. Not only did I not really need a job, but I knew that if I did there was one out there for me. Many of today's young people already know the uncertainty of having no disposable income and of how or when that situation will end. By their early 20s some are already carrying a sizeable load on their shoulders with student loans and the knowledge that there may not be a job for them when they graduate. However, with the oldest babyboomers approaching early retirement age I believe all is not lost. Within the next few years this large portion of the population will begin to leave the job market. Il is a trend that should continue for quite awhile and will hopefully open things up for the younger generation.