Canadian workers are among the happiest in the world

Canadian workers are among the happiest in the world, with nearly two-thirds saying they love or like their job a lot, according a study for job website Monster.ca.

The survey found that 24 per cent of Canadians love their job so much they’d do it for free and 40 per cent say enjoy what they do, but "could like it more."  About 29 per cent said they like it "well enough for now."

That level of job satisfaction was well ahead of workers in the Netherlands, India, the U.S., U.K, France and Germany.  Workers in the Netherlands were the next happiest nation, with 57 per cent saying they either love or like their employment

Only two per cent of Canadians said they hate their job and another five per cent answered that they don’t like it. That compares to 15 per cent of U.S. respondents who said they hate or don’t like their jobs. In the U.S., the number satisfied with their jobs is about 53 per cent.

The results, based on research by GfK's Globobus, are based on surveys of 8,000 workers in seven countries.

Canada's younger workers are most likely to be unhappy at work, with 13 per cent of people under the age of 25 confessing that they dislike their jobs and think they could do better.

"Young Canadians are ambitious and eager to succeed, so it's not surprising that a significant proportion of them are feeling frustrated in their current jobs and think they can do better," said Sheryl Boswell, director of marketing for Monster.ca.

The survey found those in higher income brackets (over $100,000)  were more likely to say they were happy with their work situation, while the number who say they like or love their job falls as income falls. Among those earning less than $50,000, only 44 per cent said they loved or liked their jobs.

"It's natural that for many of us, getting a healthy pay cheque is a primary motivation for work, and being well-compensated lends itself to contentment," Boswell said in a press release.

Unemplyment is not due to inafficeancy of Universities ( Kate T. Lawson)

The idea that universities are somehow not doing what we want them to do has become a popular trope in the editorial pages. To hear some columnists tell it, Canada's universities are stuck in the past and not up to the labor market challenges of the present.

But is it true?

Universities have indeed been around for a long time -- something like 925 years. And in the Internet age, there is a tendency to view anything older than Facebook as stodgy and conservative.

But this kind of thinking is a mistake. The remarkable durability of the university is the result of its ability to adapt to changing social, political, and economic realities. As nation states grew, universities were transformed from Church-run to secular institutions. As the Industrial Revolution remade the world, universities began to educate engineers and produce the research that would feed phenomenal economic growth. As demand for higher education exploded in the years following World War II, universities quickly shifted from elite institutions to places of mass learning. And now, the university is adapting itself to the information age. Cautiously, perhaps, but you don't survive for centuries by rushing to embrace novelty for novelty's sake.

After nearly a millennium of growth and change, the modern university does a lot of things. It discovers new knowledge and expands the boundaries of human understanding. It solves real-world problems. It educates people, citizens, and leaders. And yes, the university is quite good at training people to succeed in the workforce.

But the one thing universities can't do is perform magic tricks. Communities across Ontario and Canada are struggling with unemployment, the long hangover of the 2008 financial crisis, and deep structural changes to the Canadian economy. People are rightly concerned with why joblessness is so high, and how to get people back to work. Given their important role in educating people for the labor market, it is not surprising that the conversation should include universities. But universities can't create jobs out of thin air.

And yet some pundits are quick to blame our institutions of higher learning for unemployment. All of a sudden, universities are doing a poor job preparing students for work. We are told that they need to do a better job meeting the needs of employers and the economy. These claims, however, routinely ignore evidence that both employers and graduates continue to find great value in a university degree. More to the point, the much lamented Canadian "skills gap" may in fact be a chimera. Economist Don Drummond "hasn't found a shred of credible evidence that Canada has a serious mismatch between skills and jobs."

If today's graduates are struggling, it is not because their degrees became less relevant, or because universities have somehow dropped the ball. Rather, it is because jobs are harder to get. We don't have a university problem in Ontario and Canada, we have a labor market problem. Universities didn't cause unemployment; the economy did.

Of course universities should look at ways to improve the education they provide; things can always work better. But the emerging tunnel-vision around binding universities to narrow labor market outcomes devalues all of the other, equally important work that a university does. Research that cures disease, improves lives, and explains our world. Community engagement that builds understanding and prosperity. Education that prepares people for lives as citizens, thinkers, and creators - not just workers.

If someone tells you that the only reason universities exist is to train people for jobs, that person does not understand what makes a university great. The multiple social, economic, and individual roles of universities has allowed universities to survive wars, dictators, and economic catastrophe. They have also generated the innovation and discovery that has helped build the world around us. Ironically, the observers who claim that universities are behind the times will take away all of the things that make universities timeless.

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Canada the Land of Oppertunities

Canada is being proactive in their recruiting efforts by searching the globe to fill much-needed positions in the oil and gas industry. The rapid expansion of oil sands production has made oil critical to the Canadian economy and with more than $100 billion invested in oil sands over the past 10 years, economic and political power has shifted westward to Alberta. It is estimated that production is connected to 75,000 jobs nationwide, and this number is expected to increase over the next 25 years. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers estimates that Canada's current production of 3.2 million barrels of oil a day will reach 6.2 million barrels a day by 2030, with oil sands representing majority of this output. Additionally, it is estimated that $283.4 billion will be spent on the development of new oil sands projects by 2035, noted the Conference Board of Canada. With an increase in production, the demand for skilled employees surges. Essentially, conventional oil and gas producers need additional workforce to produce a barrel of oil or a cubic foot of gas today compared to 10 years ago. Canada's oil and gas industry will need to fill a minimum of 9,500 jobs by 2015, according to a report released by the Petroleum Human Resources Council of Canada. Between now and 2015, the country's oil and gas industry is at risk of losing about 3 percent of its overall workforce because of obstinately low natural gas prices, the report "Canada's Oil and Gas Labour Market Outlook 2015" highlighted. Two primary factors, growth in certain operations and age-related attrition across the industry, will offset most job losses and contribute to increased overall hiring needs, the report stated. "It is a national problem," said Francis McGuire, chief executive officer of Moncton, N.B.-based Major Drilling Group International Inc., to the Globe and Mail. "It is very difficult to attract people. Salaries are very good … but they don't want to be out with the black flies and the snow and the cold and sleeping in camp and being away from home for 21 days at a time." By 2015, employment in the oil sands sector is projected to increase by 29 percent over 2011 levels, or about 5,850 jobs. The pipeline sector is estimated to add 530 jobs over the same period. And both sectors will need to amp recruiting efforts for turnover and replacing retiring workers. Looking forward, Canadian oil and gas employment is expected to rise to 145,000 jobs by 2035. "This is a complex labor story," said Cheryl Knight, executive director and CEO of the Petroleum HR Council, in a released statement. "At a granular level, we're seeing high demand for, and reduced supply of, skilled workers in specific occupations, many of which are unique to the oil and gas industry. And employee turnover is the wild card that could have recruiters working to fill hundreds of additional job openings over the next four years."