How Region Influences Key Aspects of the Work Experiences in Canada Essay

Introduction

In Canada, regional development is varied from different parts of the country and so is work experience. Most developed provinces such as Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario offer better working experience than least developed ones like Nunavut. The economic development of each province is highly dependent on the available industries, attained educational levels, and rate of employment. Consequently, key work experience aspects including job security, compensation, job satisfaction, and safety are highly dependent on the various elements of a region which contribute to its growth. Thus, the quality of work experience in Canada is dependent on the economic development of a region.

Job Security

Job security in Canada is based on the types of skills and level of education acquired by employees. Employees with multiple and highly polished skills get guaranteed job security in most of the ten provinces (Holcombe & Kemp, 2020). All provinces have high and

Low-paying jobs but what secures a job is the ability to outdo weak skills amongst employees. In most cases, being a university graduate does not guarantee job security but the types of skills one has. Ontario tops the country in the list of most educated provinces with 56% of the learners having a degree (Statistics Canada, 2021). Considerably, the province has a level of employment as high as 81% (Statistics Canada, 2021). However, the region does not guarantee job security due to high competition in skills.

The major consideration in examining job security is the level of skills available in a province. Yasin et al. (2020) argue otherwise by saying that job security in Ontario and other developed parts of Canada is based on employees’ job satisfaction. In explanation, the authors provide that there is no guarantee for job security in companies that do not value employee satisfaction. Rural or urban employee turnover is not based on their level of skills but satisfaction (Yasin et al., 2020). Therefore, job security is based on the acquired skills and employee satisfaction.

Job security is also dependent on the available jobs in a region whereby some regions require manual skills than others. Provinces that major in the oil and gas sector like Alberta requires more manual workers especially in mining. Alberta is open to skills in the job description and thus attracts more immigrants to work in the industries (Holcombe & Kemp, 2020). Alberta is also highly invested in revenue-generating industries like soil sands hence boosting the level of employment in the region (Canadian Encyclopedia, 2021). Most immigrants have either no or weak skills thus suitable for manual works. There is a high possibility of workers in this region remaining in their jobs as there is no skills factor in job competition. The study also shows that the level of employment is high in regions requiring a low level of skills.

From an immigrant perspective, the idea of job security is based on more than they need for manual skills. A study by Lamb et al. (2021) argues against the perception that there is guaranteed job security for manually skilled workers in Canada. Compared to the natives, immigrants in different parts of the country earn less despite having the same level of skills. The immigrants are also prone to job termination more than their counterpart native workers. Thus, they are less likely to get full-time but part-time and hourly opportunities. Consequently, immigrants are more likely to jump from one industry to another in search of a more secure job (Lamb et al., 2021).

Regions with low national income like Nova Scotia have a high level of unemployment hence lower job security (Canadian Encyclopedia, 2021). There is however no guarantee that regions requiring manual skills will hire immigrants. For example, Yukon, despite being a mining company that requires manual labor has the least number of immigrants in the country. The job demand is also low hence there is no guaranteed job security.

Compensation

The aspect of compensation in work experience can be examined from various regional perspectives. Work compensation in Canada, like job security, is based on essential skills and level of education. People with highly advanced skills are well compensated but the compensation level depends on the economic growth of the region. For example, a doctor is approximately $373, 556 in Alberta, $348, 825 in New Brunswick, $326, 258 in Quebec, and $319, 091 in Ontario per year (Statistics Canada, 2021).

The rate of compensation is lower in the Atlantic regions including Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island as their recent economic contribution in the country is only 5.5% of total GDP (Canadian Encyclopedia, 2021). In other words, workers’ compensation is a major factor that indicates the economic variation in the different regions of the country.

The perspective of regional compensation is however different when it comes to immigrants. According to Lamb et al. (2021), human capital compensation is different when it comes to immigrants in Canada. Despite getting fewer job opportunities compared to the Natives, immigrants in the country are paid less. The companies also prefer to hire these workers hourly so they can be paid for the only time they are working. Furthermore, economically developed regions like Alberta prefer to hire immigrants for cheap labor. The industrial companies understand that the immigrants are in desperate need of work hence will accept whichever amount for compensation.

Further investigation shows smaller gaps between the natives’ and immigrants’ compensation for non-standard jobs. According to Lepawsky et al. (2017), although the immigrants are less compensated in all Canadian regions, there is not much different from the native pays in non-standard jobs. Jobs requiring little to no skills like those of mining and manufacturing industry services pay all workers almost the same. However, Native Canadians are highly paid than immigrants in standard works (Ali & Newbold, 2020). Although most immigrants have no high skills required in the standard jobs, many regions practice discrimination in compensation.

Therefore, it would be correct to assume that whether skilled or not, workplace compensation is based on the citizenship of an employee, with natives being more favored. It is also impossible to consider work experience without involving immigrants as most of the labor is offered by people from outside Canada.

Work Safety

Canada is known for having a high rate of employment opportunities although this might have been affected by the ongoing health crisis. However, when offering employment, companies are mandated to observe the Occupational Health and Safety Act of 1979 (Holcombe & Kemp, 2020). The policy seeks to protect workers from the safety and health dangers of the job. Thus, workplaces are expected to set good working conditions for all workers no matter standard or non-standard. Most employers in different regions practice the policy, especially in standard jobs. However, in regions with a high number of vacancies like Quebec, less observation of the Act is reported (Holcombe & Kemp, 2020). In such regions, there are more likely to hire immigrants for the labor force than the natives.

Migrant workers in Canada especially those tied to specific employers are vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. According to Marshke et al. (2018), Canadian employers are replacing paid domestic workers with cheap labor from immigrants. The immigrants are prevented from getting permanent residency and experience manipulation in the process of recruitment as a way of keeping an exploitation door open for employers.

In a specific study from the Atlantic Canadian Fish Processing Plants, the industry is unmasked to reveal the abuse and exploitation of immigrants (Marshke et al., 2018). Migrant workers from Taiwan, Hawaii, and Ireland working in the coastal regions of Nunavut, British Columbia, and great lakes experience labor abuse (Marshke et al., 2018). The report shows that workers are underpaid, physically abused, and experienced delayed payments. The movements of immigrants tied to certain employers are also restricted hence reducing workers’ flexibility.

Standard workers are also exposed to physical abuse especially in the most demanding sectors. A study by Chang et al. (2019) reveals that not only migrant workers suffer from safety concerns in Canada. The country has a high rate of employment for nursing practice which makes the employees vulnerable to abuse. The practice involves high risk, heavy workload, and increased levels of stress. All these problems are topped by poorly behaved patients who physically attack the nurses and other hospital workers. Nurses are however more likely to be attacked by patients four times than other workers. Compared to other industries healthcare industry is more prone to such physical attacks by 16% (Chang et al., 2019).

This report can be interpreted that work safety is not only based on the employer side but also on the customer side. Furthermore, no matter which province has more health workers attacks, some safety issues are beyond business control. However, an organization with the risk of such attacks should have more security personnel to protect the workers from such harm.

Job Satisfaction

Employee job satisfaction is dependent on many factors including compensation, chances for career development, and state of working conditions among other things. The delivery of these factors varies from one province to another in Canada. The rate of employee turnover and retention is also based on each region (Falatah et al., 2021). Highly developed regions are more likely to offer job opportunities alongside other services to render workers’ satisfaction.

As discussed above, compensation is based on the geographical level of economic development. Regions with high employment rates also indicate a high level of employee turnover. For example, Quebec is rated as the region with the highest level of employment (Falatah et al., 2021). Quebec alone accounted for 20% of the national GDP in 2018 (Canadian Encyclopedia, 2021). The province surpasses Alberta, which is more economically developed, the level of employee turnover in Quebec is higher hence low workers’ satisfaction.

Regions with more investment projects offer an increased rate of job satisfaction. Provinces like Ontario have a high rate of foreign investment, especially in American. The investments mainly in the motor industry have significantly improved the economic growth of the area. Furthermore, employee compensation is a high and low level of workers’ turnover. Canada’s internal market faces a geographical disadvantage and is small to serve the whole country (Canadian Encyclopedia, 2021).

The center of the market is located in Southwestern Quebec and Southern Ontario. Prairie and Maritimes are poorly located to serve the country’s market. The modern industry in these regions requires high skills, infrastructure, and services only found in the big cities (Canadian Encyclopedia, 2021). Such geographical limitations do not offer workers the satisfaction they would require hence are more likely to move to the urban regions.

Conclusion

Key aspects of work experiences in Canada are influenced by the economic development of the region. Factors such as job security, safety, compensation, and satisfaction vary from a region to another. The labor force is a major component of economic disparities in this country. Immigrants’ work experiences are profoundly different from those of the native Canadians. This study has used the method of literature analysis, cross arguments, and explanation of text assumptions. There is an existing gap in the research of domestic labor in Canada. The used sources and most other sources about this topic focus more on immigrants’ experiences than those of the Native Canadians.

References

Ali, W. K., & Newbold, K. B. (2020). Geographic variations in precarious employment outcomes between immigrant and Canadian‐born populations. Papers in Regional Science, 99(5), 1185-1213. Web.

Canadian Encyclopedia. (2021). Regional economics in Canada. Web.

Chang, Y. P., Lee, D. C., Chang, S. C., Lee, Y. H., & Wang, H. H. (2019). Influence of work excitement and workplace violence on professional commitment and turnover intention among hospital nurses. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 28(11-12), 2171-2180. Web.

Falatah, R., Almuqati, J., Almuqati, H., & Altunbakti, K. (2021). Linking nurses’ job security to job satisfaction and turnover intention during reform and privatization: A cross‐sectional survey. Journal of Nursing Management. 29(6), 1578-1586. Web.

Holcombe, S., & Kemp, D. (2020). From pay‐out to participation: Indigenous mining employment as local development? Sustainable Development, 28(5), 1122-1135. Web.

Lamb, D., Banerjee, R., & Verma, A. (2021). Immigrant–non‐immigrant wage differentials in Canada: A comparison between standard and non‐standard jobs. International Migration, 59(5), 113-133. Web.

Lepawsky, J., Phan, C., & Greenwood, R. (2010). Metropolis on the margins: Talent attraction and retention to the St. John’s city‐region. The Canadian Geographer/Le Géographe canadien, 54(3), 324-346. Web.

Marschke, M., Kehoe, C., & Vandergeest, P. (2018). Migrant worker experiences in Atlantic Canadian fish processing plants. The Canadian Geographer/Le Géographe canadien, 62(4), 482-493. Web.

Statistics Canada. (2021). Job vacancies, payroll employees, job vacancy rate, and average offered hourly wage by economic regions, quarterly, unadjusted for seasonality. Web.