In a world where civility is in short supply, is there a way to keep our workplaces civil? These days, politics often divides us, with feelings running deep, and the extra stress of the pandemic can bring tensions to the fore. Still, there are ways...
The gig economy gets a lot of negative press, but is it actually a bad thing? Although some think it is synonymous with income insecurity and bad management practices, in fact for many it is the way they choose to work. For professional workers who...
I am so excited to share that I will be speaking at Microsoft's Future Now event, to take place virtually October 27th and 28th, I will be one of more than 100 speakers talking about digital transformation, the future of work, and being primed to...
We are getting close to a vaccine for Covid-19 and a return to something approaching normal in the workforce. But will normal look like for companies? And how should companies plan for the post-pandemic future of work? Our guest today is Cathryn Barnard a Partner...
Another day, another virtual presentation! Thank you to CPA Ontario for letting me to speak to their conference today on the economy and where it is going, particularly with the uncertainty of the political environment. All live-streamed from my home studio, with cutting-edge production and...
Are you afraid of unemployment or are you sure you are forever employable? As the economic outlook becomes increasingly uncertain, many people would put themselves in the first category but would certainly like to be in the second. Our guest today is Jeff Gothelf, author...
We are re-imagining everything else, so maybe we need to imagine the office as well. The physical office we are familiar with has its roots in designs first imagined a hundred years ago, with a bit of a Dilbert-style reboot thrown in during the 1950s....
Yes I miss in-person presentations, a lot actually, but cool that we can still keep the conversations going. Here I am on someone's laptop (you can see his coffee mug to the right) as I speak to the Ontario Municipal Human Resources Association fall conference...
Are there things that animals can tell us about how to cope wth work stress and ultimately how to work better? Our guest today is a psychotherapist with a passion for horses, and she has found a way to marry the two together. As she...
Six months into the pandemic and with more months to come, most workers are coping but not without difficulty. Whether it is stress about being home and isolated, or stress about going back to work and possibly getting sick, a lot of people are under...
It may have been a bit of a struggle to make it work, but the pandemic has forced many companies to keep their teams intact even when they are not under the same roof. As workers have de-camped to far-flung places, perhaps permanently, we are...
What does flexible work mean to you? It might mean leaving a few minutes early to catch your kid's soccer game, or it might mean totally restructuring your job so you can travelfor a few months. In both cases, however, employers have traditionally been hesitant...
The school year is starting and the pandemic is not ending and Generation Z will have to deal with that. In fact, they will probably have to deal with the impact of the pandemic for years as the effects of it shape the way that...
It is something you hear about a lot - the need to be innovative. We hear that innovation is the key to economic growth, or the companies need to encourage innovation – but what does that really mean? Our guest on today's episode is Anders...
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is in full swing and according to the World Economic Forum, the transformation it imposes on us will be unlike anything humankind has experienced before. For business to weather this revolution and come out on the right side of it will...
Climate change it was an issue before the pandemic, and it will be an issue when the pandemic is over.More than that, the issue of climate change will be a long term issue that impacts the future of work. Between the ways that we operate...
When we think about the words that go with 'leadership', 'heart' is rarely among them but perhaps it should be. The pandemic has shown us that business as usual is no longer going to get the job done, and as well we are all acutely...
Why choose one career when you can do more than one at the same time? In these days of gig jobs and the need to pivot as the economy change, maybe we should thinking hard about 'portfolio careers' or doing several things at the same...
What does a Navy fighter pilot have in common with leading during the pandemic? A lot, at least according to our guest today. Communicating wel, reinforcing core values, remembering to listen- these are all things that leaders in the navy are trained to do, and...
We are all used to interacting with one another in person, at the office, at meetings, just casually. Particularly when it is a business context, we tend to think about how we should present ourselves and we know all about the firm handshake (now a...
Freelance work something of a controversial workforce trend. To some, it is the dreaded gig economy, those who are forced to work on contracts or driving ride shares because they cannot find that holy grail, the full-time job. To others though, it represents freedom, the ability to...
The pandemic has forced a giant-scale experiment in online education, and by many accounts it is going very poorly. From first graders to college students, everyone seems to be frustrated at having to take the classroom experience to a crowded space in the kitchen, and...
Remote work is having a minute, or rather a series of them. Some companies have used it for years, some have been adamantly against it, but both kinds are being forced into it at the moment. As the pandemic forces millions to figure out some...
Many sectors have been impacted by the pandemic, but none more completely than the travel sector. One week is was functioning at full capacity, and then the next the lights had completely gone out, or so it seems. When they go back on, they will...
As the labor market goes through an evolution that started long before the pandemic, our communities are being transformed as well. In many cases that means good things, as when successful companies hire and prosperity increases. Other times there are less-positive spin-offs, with some people...
All of a sudden, front line workers are being treated as the heroes of this pandemic and that is only fair. Bus drivers, grocery workers, cleaners, meat plant employees – all of these people jobs that need doing and they put themselves at risk in...
As a society, we tend to both love and hate our arts sector. Love them, because we do value the contributions that music and visual arts and theater and film make to our lives particularly now. In the midst of this pandemic, how many lives...
Ready or not, the world of work is changing. And, whoever you are, you need to figure out your place in the future of work. We need to re-imagine everything. Who are the workers that will be in demand in the future? Will robots take our...
Was so great to speak to Manitoba Tech's Disrupted Future conference last week..I spoke about the future of work, which is scary and challenging but something we need to come to terms with now. There is lots to be optimistic about, and I think people...
I am excited about my upcoming speaking engagements in 2020, none more so than the presentation I will do to the Connect Travel Market Leadership Summit in February in Kissimmee, Florida. I will be talking about the megatrends for the travel industry and will be...
Let's face facts: tech is indeed replacing workers, especially at places like grocery stores where simple functions like scanning labels can be done without employees. A labor group in Oregon wants to legislate that away, but can you even do that? Read more here in...
Maybe we will have a recession, maybe we won't, and anyway by all means use a different word if you prefer.'Slowdown', 'Soft Patch', 'Downturn', any of them will do, and any might describe where the economy will be by next year. If we do hit...
One of the big worries regarding the future of work is that jobs are going to disappear altogether, replaced by breathtaking technology and clever robots. That is happening to an extent, but apparently some dregs are being left for humans, for better or work. 'Ghost...
Do not get me wrong, I love tourism as an industry and have huge respect for its economic force. I want to see it grow, and frankly I want to keep travelling myself. However, I cannot ignore the conflicts between tourism and climate change and...
Did a shift in corporate culture have anything to do with the issues with the Boeing 737 Max, the (now grounded) plane that was involved in two accidents in recent months? Maybe we will never know the truth of that accusation (which comes from a...
An hour to answer questions about the future of work - what could be better? I really enjoyed the hour I spent on CBC Radio earlier this week, supposedly talking about a re-think of the five-day work week but in fact covering all kinds of...
When I speak to employer groups about the future of work, they are often keen to know what they should do to both attract and hold on to workers. In tight markets, that often means attract anyone, anyone at all, they are not fussy. Still,...
It is almost like an urban myth: we were supposed to get a wave of baby boomer retirements that were going to make it a seller's market for younger workers. And it is happening - except that it is apparently more like a splash than...
The future of work is a huge subject, not one that can really be tackled by in a forty minute period, but we gave it a shot at the Globe and Mail's recent Future Forward conference. I was part of a panel that touched on...
Will cutting-edge layaway plans be the salvation of the retail sector and the broader economy, or are they a disaster waiting to happen? The newest experiments in making it consumer payments easy is creative, but may not bring the long-term results that retailers hope to...
Industrial revolutions are always kind of scary, at least for those who have to make a living. The idea that some crazy new technology can do your job, and maybe do it better..well who can blame the Luddites of the 19th century who took hammers...
Last week I had the chance to be a guest on my old colleague Bruce Sellery's podcast, Moolala. We talked about Income Share Agreements, about which I have kind of mixed feelings. They are a way to spread the risk for students, in that they...
Someone asked me about this the other day and I decided to share in a Linkedin article. See it here (and feel free to share the best advice you ever got in the comments) ...
It always happens the same way: the economy slow and births go down, and then it gets better and there is a mini baby boom. Except - not this time. It is ten years after the end of the recession and births in the U.S..and...
After I give keynote presentations at conferences, I often do a Q & A session, and inevitably people ask what they can do or what their kids can do to make sure that they are not left behind as the tech revolution (this one, we...
A big misunderstanding? Uber and Lyft drivers are protesting across ten U.S. cities this week, as well as in the U.K., South America and Australia, saying that the companies are treating them unfairly. The companies say that they are a great deal for the drivers,...
No one is saying central bankers ever had an easy job, but at least in days gone by it used to be a bit more straightforward. If labor was in short supply wages went up and people had more money to spend and prices went...
Whenever I speak before an audience I inevitably bring up the subject of demographics, because to me it is the aging-elephant in the room. Whether I am engaged to talk about the economic outlook or about interest rates or about the future of work, it...
The 'nine-nine-six culture' (working nine to nine, six days a week) is something close to the norm for Chinese tech workers who are supposed to embrace it with no complaints. Now, some are pushing back on it, and employers are not thrilled (and are not...
Ugh, the college admissions scandal. Rich parents buying their kids into top colleges, coaches taking payoffs, entitled kids pretending to be athletes or scholars or whatever, and sometimes not even really wanting to go to school. It is all pretty distasteful - but is there...
After this Globe and Mail column came out, I had a friend call and ask whether he should re-jig his portfolio to get rid of his auto stocks. The piece is about demographics, and specifically about the implications of the fact that people spend differently...
Jobs come and jobs go, but are the ones that are coming as good as the ones that we are losing? I was taken by some new research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology which looked at the job titles being added and found a...
I was intrigued when I heard about 'Income Sharing Agreements' which are basically a way share the 'risk' of paying for an education between the student and another party.See my column for the Globe and Mail here ...
I am thrilled to announce that my book Work Is Not a Place: Our Lives and Our Organizations in the Post-Jobs Economy has been nominated for Canada's National Business Book Award. Last year at this time I was sitting looking at my laptop and wondering...
It's a new year so how better to celebrate it than by throwing away all the junk you bought last year? And the one before that, and before that? Seems like so many of us have piles of unwanted 'stuff' and nothing feels better than...
I actually am a fan of the hashtag gigeconomy..in many ways it is a better way to get work done and for some workers it offers a ton of flexibility, or is at least an alternative to the traditional model of work. That said, not...
Okay, we have to talk about a recession. It might not happen, but enough indicators are suggesting that it is a possibility that we do have to go there. At the moment, we have these incredibly low unemployment rates in Canada and the U.S. but...
This is my latest article for the Globe and Mail..this time on 'Perennials' as older workers are sometimes called. Those over 55 now comprise about 23 per cent of the U.S. workforce and 21 per cent of the Canadian one, which should not surprise anyone....
I recently had the chance to do a great interview with Anne Gaviola of VICE on 'How Not to be Replaced by a Robot at Work'. For those of you who are not aware, VICE is a site that primarily attracts those under the age...
In my latest column for the Globe and Mail I write about the controversial subject of a robot tax. In one sense it is fair enough: if you hire workers you have to pay a payroll tax, so if you go with robots (or cobots,...
Money is cool but workers need more than that: after all, there are droves of well-paid workers who right-this-minute are sprucing up their resumes because they feel like they cannot stand a single more day at their jobs. If you asked them why they are...
Work Is Not a Place (the new book) is officially out on December 9th which is exciting..has been a long process (but a fun one too. Some days.). In the meantime, I have been out talking about the subject of it, which is basically the...
We have kind of been moving to a winner-take-all world for a while, but a decade after the recession the trend only seems to be intensifying. The McKinsey Global Institute did a pretty thorough job of looking at the phenomenon in a recent paper, making...
The Bank of England seems to be asking the hard questions about future of work...
Automation is cool in so many ways and it is going to do great things for business. It is even going to create amazing new jobs that we cannot even get our minds around yet. But here's the thing: they may not be jobs for...
My latest column for the Globe and Mail sparked a bit of a reaction – I got a lot more comments than usual. The subject? ‘Class’, and whether originally coming from a lower socioeconomic class hurt people’s careers right from the time they sent out...
Seems like a ridiculous concept (at least in North America) but some British researchers say you should. I see it more as a sweetly retro concept, a last ditch effort to separate work and leisure. See my Globe and Mail column on the subject here ...
We have a labor crunch now, and for the most in-demand talent it is only going to get worse. That's why I have to applaud Disney's new 'Disney Aspire' tuition reimbursement program. See my piece for the Globe and Mail here....
We have a labor crunch now, and for the most in-demand talent it is only going to get worse. That’s why I have to applaud Disney’s new ‘Disney Aspire’ tuition reimbursement program. See my piece for the Globe and Mail here....
If you want to pick a restaurant you might check out a Yelp review, and if you want to pick a hotel you might check out TripAdvisor. What happens though when someone is deciding whether to hire YOU and you are at the mercy of...
If you want to pick a restaurant you might check out a Yelp review, and if you want to pick a hotel you might check out TripAdvisor. What happens though when someone is deciding whether to hire YOU and you are at the mercy of...
Here is my latest Globe and Mail column an d it is kind of radical. Given that lives are getting longer, should we think about starting careers later, maybe as late as 40? Crazy right? Maybe, but maybe we need to at least open our minds...
Well maybe most people do still work 'normal' hours but they want to shake things up as well. See the column I wrote about the topic for the Globe and Mail here. ...
You pay too much in taxes right? Well, everyone thinks they do, but honestly some people have more of a case than others: single taxpayers (who are a growing group) are actually the ones getting hid the hardest these days. See my column about it...
Here’s a piece I wrote for the Globe and Mail on the way that demographics are affecting the supply of young hockey players. Millennials have provided lots of young players which have sped up the game, but that may change, You can read the whole...
You pay too much in taxes right? Well, everyone thinks they do, but honestly some people have more of a case than others: single taxpayers (who are a growing group) are actually the ones getting hid the hardest these days. See my column about it...
Well maybe most people do still work ‘normal’ hours but they want to shake things up as well. See the column I wrote about the topic for the Globe and Mail here....
I kind of love the way that Vermont is dealing with its old-and-getting-older labor force problem. They want millennials (or anyone) who usually just shows up to ski to think about setting up show and telecommuting from the state with the lovey autumns – and...
Changing technology is turning into tragedy for some of those whose lives and likelihoods are…but I don’t think we can legislate change away. See my latest piece for the Globe and Mail and here....
Coworking spaces are springing up everywhere and attracting businesses of all sizes. That is good for everything from the bottom line of large companies to the lonliness epidemic, which is actually something with economic implications. See my Globe and Mail column on the trend here ...
The Organisation for Economic Development has put some odds on the you-vs.-automation battle for your job. The net net is that automation is coming and that Canada (and other countries) net a plan. See my new piece for the Globe and Mail here ...
Due to popular demand, I've added a new speaking topic: The Side Hustle Economy. The Globe and Mail column I wrote on it garnered a lot of interest and I'm looking forward to expanding on it on the speaking circuit. Here is a brief synopsis...
Side Hustles are not just a tiresome millennial trend - they are how a lot of people are filling in income gaps. If you want to know what one looks like on a royal scale check out the Queen, who has made $9 million plus...
March 8th was International Women's Day and I had the good fortune to celebrate it in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, speaking to the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce. The occasion was their 'Trailblazers Lunch' which honoured high-achieving women in their community. It was a great event, and...
Canada just presented its Federal Budget, which was ostensibly about helping women's economic power. I'm kind of underwhelmed (and old-fashioned enough to wish they would just balance the books, for everyone's sake). Here is my piece on it for the Globe and Mail ...
A blog that covers economic and labor market trends may seem to be a strange place for a fiction book review. Then again, maybe not. The changes now going on in the workplace are saga-worthy, and there is something to be said for looking at...
Could we be moving to an era of shorter work weeks? See my latest for the Globe and Mail here ...
Demographics always matter - even when we are talking about the Olympics. Here is my latest for the Globe and Mail, which talks [caption id="attachment_2029" align="aligncenter" width="474"] Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir carry the flag of Canada during the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics...
My latest piece for the Globe and Mail tackles the issue of the pay gap between men and women in Hollywood. It isn't fair, but what is exactly? See it here...
Here is my latest piece for the Globe and Mail. I write about - hot topic these days- minimum wages but more specifically why they are an issue at a time when the unemployment rate is so low. I mean, the market should be pushing...
Of all the things I do work-wise, one of my favorites is speaking to live audiences. You cannot fake it: you are up in front of people who are investing their time and you have to give them something that makes them believe it was...
My latest piece for the Globe and Mail on why Prince Harry is one of many young men 'marrying up' ...
Here is my latest piece for the Globe and Mail, It talks about the way that inequality is going to follow this generation of workers into their senior years....
Here is my latest column the Globe and Mail. The subject is youth unemployment and underemployment...
I am thrilled to now be writing a bi-weekly column for the Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper. See my first here - it is a look at how the gig economy is in force but our social policies are woefully out of step with...
Is there a better way to see the future of work than to follow the drama that is Uber? The ride-hailing service burst on to the scene in San Francisco just about six years ago and nothing has been the same ever since. From how...
Walmart buying Modcloth? ‘Say it’s not so’ went the lament from Millennials and other assorted cool people earlier this year. After all, Modcloth is a cutting-edge, online retailer that offers funky clothes for those who consider themselves the opposite of everything the world’s biggest retailer...
North America is aging, and a lot of the rest of the world is aging as well. It is something to think about as we consider where we are going to get the labor we need to grow our economies in the years ahead. That...
Demographics drives a lot of things including Mergers and Acquisitions (M & A) activity. That is a lesson we are now learning from Japan, where there are apparently too few heirs to take over large companies as their boomer-aged Chief Executives head for retirement. This piece...
There are a lot of things robots can do, but they cannot make societies any younger. Canada and the U.S. are aging – there is little debate about that. What exactly that will mean for the labor force and the economy is a bit more up...
The inside itself is still a work in progress, but here is the (provisional) cover of my upcoming book Work Is Not a Place: Reimagining Our Lives and Our Organizations in the Post-Jobs Economy. I am at work on it and the plan is to...
What if you built a wall to keep people out, and it turned out that no one really wanted to get in anyway? Okay, some people might still want to enter the U.S. from Mexico and other countries which have typically supplied low skill labor,...
So I see it as kind of too little too late, but Canada's 2017/18 Federal Budget (presented yesterday) did kind of address some of the big labour market issues to come. Skills Development and Innovation were kind of themes, but identifying the issues is really...
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I'm happy to have been able to contribute to Macleans' list of '75 Charts Every Canadian Should Watch in 2017'. My post was on the 'Gig Economy' and you can find it here (you have to scroll down to find it, but that gives you...
If I had to think of an industry prone to poisonous industrial relations battles I would probably think first or the auto sector, or maybe even something like education or health. The battles in those industries, however, are apparently being matched by orchestras (can I...
Collaboration, sharing ideas, boosting creativity, creating bonds – all of these are reasons that are typically given for having open plan workspaces. Sit next to your colleagues in an open plan office or cubicle, goes the reasoning, and productivity will rise. Not so, says new...
Sure you can go for a run for free, but if you did you would be off trend. That is one take-away from some new statistics on where people are spending their fitness dollars. According to this article from Quartz (which quotes data from the...
Maybe I’m late to the party, but it was only recently that I heard the phrase ‘side hustle’. Apparently it has been around a while: way back in 2013, Entrepreneur.com tacked up an online definition, calling ‘a way to make some extra cash that allows...
Robots, joined by Gig Workers, are now making Twinkies, and they are doing such a good job that their parent company is going public. That’s a powerful statement about today’s manufacturing and economy, never mind our nutritional preferences. Twinkies, those flaky, cream-filled snack cakes that are...
Amongst the problems with the Sharing Economy – and its offshoot, the Gig Economy – is the fact that shares in it tend to be pretty unequal. In fact, even more than is the case of a usual employee-employer relationship, oftentimes the ‘employee’ in this...
A year ago most of the us knew little to nothing about the Zika virus, but at the mid-point of 2016, it appears that its existence is one factor that could disrupt world economic activity for years to come. The existence of the Zika virus...
Really, it seemed like the universal basic income (UBI), was going to be the hot new thing in economic policy. It sounds like such a simple solution to economic woes, so uncomplicated, just so basic really. Give every citizen in a country some form of...
Here’s a new one to me: the ‘divorce mortgage’. No its not some crazy, invented term to describe a financing vehicle (my mind went back to ‘plain vanilla swaps’ from the days when derivatives were the buzz), but rather exactly what it sounds like: a...
You might not have noticed it, what with one economic crisis and stock market meltdown after another grabbing your attention, but the last few decades have actually been great ones for investors. Thanks to a perfect storm of factors, investment returns for the period from...
Goodness knows, there is nothing better for the economy that productive workers. After all, an economy grows through having people working, and by having their hours at work be efficient. That can come through having them use the right equipment, or just by having them...
The rise of Robo Advisors highlights a trend of jobs traditionally thought of as high skill potentially being replaced by technology...
Billionaires are getting a bad rap these days. We would love to see the middle class (good luck defining what that is) expand, and the poor shrink in numbers. Even millionaires are more or less okay, since what with real estate wealth and all it...
We all know the how the narrative goes: manufacturing is dead, and those old cities known as industrial centers are as well. It is not a hard case to make it if you take a quick tour of places like Pittsburgh or Detroit in the...
Millennial women want to launch global careers but companies are missing the boat by not giving them what they want. That’s one of the most interesting points I found from reading the new study by consulting firm PwC on talent pool of Millennial women, published...
Twenty and thirtysomethings would apparently rather buy experiences than things, and that has some very definite implications for retailers – or as least that is one theory. As this article from Bloomberg Business suggests, the stock market tells the tale of what is happening very...
Way back when I studied economics, I don’t actually remember learning what a ‘negative interest rate’ was. In fact, even a few years ago when I taught graduate-level economics (a whole other post), I don’t remember it being in the curriculum, or even being asked...
When people rhyme off the things they want to do in retirement, ‘pay off debts’ is never on the list. Nevertheless, it is something that baby boomers will have to do anyway, if data from the New York Federal Reserve (NY Fed) is to be...
Like it or not, the sharing economy is everywhere. I’ll go as far as saying it will be one of the big economic stories of 2016, although its influence will extend far longer than that. It’s a different way to do business, and it works...
New study says it is better to avoid toxic employees tha...
..And What are the Odds That they Will Do It? I am happy to be included in the 'Ten Thinkers' That the Globe and Mail asked to answer that question. See my answer (and everyone else's) here.....
The ‘sharing economy’ is apparently making inroads in the education field. These days, savvy teachers are selling their wares on a site called TeachersPayTeachers.com, which is a kind of Etsy for teaching plans and the like. In fact, the CEO of the company is a...
Young voters seem to be okay with allowing their parents and grandparents to choose their political leaders. Could things change in Canada's October election? For this piece for the Speaker's Spotlight website (they do a great job representing me if you'd like to book me...
We all say it, and we worry about it too: we are an aging society, and that’s going to have repercussions. In Canada, the median age of the population is now close to 41 while in the U.S. it is still-youthful 37ish but rising (according...
What do you think of when someone says ‘HR?’. For a lot of people, the ‘Human Resources’ department of their company is the group that makes them fill out a lot of forms, takes a bunch of surveys, and handles the admin of filling positions....
I had barely heard about Campus Coliving and their business model before I saw the sad announcement yesterday that they were closing down the company, a result of not being able to make any money at it. The problem I'd say is that as a...
Is Mickey Mouse a snob? According to this article from the blog Theme Park Insider (reprinted by Quartz), while once Disney (NYSE: DIS) was all about welcoming the middle class into its parks, these days you have to be rich to party with the well-heeled...
‘Employee Engagement’ – you may want to brush that off as just another HR buzzword, but the truth is that unless your employees are engaged its doubtful you are getting the most from them. If you’re an employee you can confirm that actually: the less...
I admit, I have watched television shows set in law firms for a long time now. When I was young and impressionable, I watched the excitement on L.A. Law and was intrigued enough to eventually take the Law School Admissions Test (I did get accepted...
Everybody hates the suburbs right? Or at least all the cool people. They talk about a return to the downtowns, about walkable spaces, about riding bikes to work. It is all interesting stuff, but are people really rallying against the suburbs? Any look at population...
Etsy (ETSY) and I go way back. My first purchase from the online crafts marketplace was a set of personalized aprons to give as a gift that I bought back in 2010. Since then I’ve purchased baby blankets, Christmas ornaments, a ton of custom invitations,...
“I’m trying for Freedom 95” says a friend explaining his retirement plans. It’s a joke, sort of. Some people try, or used to try, to save enough to get out of the labor force a good ten years ahead of the norm, and maybe they...
How can a city with a unemployment rate of 19 percent scoff at any industry, especially one that accounts for 15 percent of its GDP? That was my first thought when I heard that the city of Barcelona is actively pursuing a strategy to keep...
Hey I’m a politician – again! I’ve declared to be a candidate for Town Council in my home town for a by election coming up in a few weeks. It’s my second try at this, given that I unsuccessfully made a bid for a seat...
Issues about whether a hereditary monarchy should exist aside, I have nothing against the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. They seem cool, and they seem to work pretty hard as well. They do more than their share to bring tourism into Britain. It appears that...
If you were a brand new graduate from a top tier university, you had a degree that made you a hot item and you could work anywhere at all, where would you choose? Say it came down to Wall Street or Silicon Valley – both...
There are so many facets of the shuttle-bus-to-Silicon-Valley story that fascinate me. The fact that people are willing to commute a fair distance to be able to live in San Francisco while working for tech companies 60 miles away has big implications, and not just...
Was it all big one fun, Technicolor roller-coaster ride never to repeated? The economic growth of the past fifty years was awesome, at least in a historical context. Question is, was it a one-time-only, and are we destined to go back to the sluggish economic...
Attention interest rate watchers: Walmart is raising wages so the U.S. Federal Reserve is likely to be hiking interest rates. It is not as simple as that, but it kind of is actually. In case you missed it, here is the New York Times’ take on...
How would you like free college tuition for you and for your kids? It would really take the pressure off, right? Of course you’d take it if offered – but what if there was a catch, the catch being really high taxes forever? That’s the...
Here is the good news for U.S. restaurants: it costs less to fill those SUVs and minivans these days, so some of the saved money is going to be spent eating out. (Blooming Onions for everyone!). The bad news? That windfall to restaurants is not...
Former Abercrombie CEO Mike Jeffries (yes, I said ‘former’, he stepped down today) said some pretty dumb and offensive things about who he wanted his clientele to be. If the company’s numbers were good nobody might have cared, but in this retail environment he rightly...
Do you go to the mall? I used to, quite a bit actually. In the 70s, 80s, 90s, even the 00s – the mall was the place to buy stuff, and I liked stuff as much as any child and young woman in North America....
Trust me, I am not saying that ‘Oprah’s Favorite Things’ are a good approximation of anyone’s holiday shopping list. Still, I think it is an economic indicator, of a type, just the same. The Queen of Daytime Talk (and the Forbes-magazine certified 580th richest person in...
Everybody has their favorite so called-called ‘bellwether’ company, the one that tells you where the economy is going if you scan its fortunes. A lot of people like Federal Express, since tracking shipments tells you a lot about the level of activity. Another favorite is...
Advertising, television, media – they sound like cool places to work right? What with Mad Men like a giant commercial for the glamorous industry of advertising, I imagine more people than ever are lusting after careers writing copy and crafting campaigns. Maybe though, their better...
I never thought I would admire Mallory Keaton, but I really do. Okay, the person I admire is actress Justine Bateman, not Mallory Keaton, the ditzy teenager she played on television show Family Ties (it ran from 1982 through 1989). For those of us who grew...
Thought I would post this nice book review of Economorphics that appeared in the publication Canadian Government Executive. The reviewer (Harvey Schachter, who also writes for the Globe and Mail) says that ' Economorphics is a book that government executives can learn from, as they establish...
Freelancing, the best thing ever to happen to the workplace or an evil idea designed to make workers poor and companies inefficient? We are not even close to a consensus on that, but apparently we are getting closer. According to one new study, 41 percent...
Ah, street theater. Buskers, break dancers, the sidewalk artists that sketch – they bring a city to life, and they attract tourists as well. The right ones – like the guy I saw do a marionette show to music in Charleston, South Carolina last summer...
Is being a ‘solopreneur’ – someone who basically runs their own shop –a good thing or a bad thing for the economy? We had better figure it out, because apparently the number of them (us actually, I am one as well) are increasing a phenomenal...
Yes, it is an economic story. Goodness knows the Jian Ghomeshi mess has a little something for everyone - horror, drama and apparently porn – but if you were making a movie it could also be a financial thriller. So much of the drama of...
A long time ago, when I was deciding what to do when I grew up, I gave some thought to being a newspaper reporter. I liked to write, I was good at it, it sounded fun. I have always been a practical person though, so...
If you grew up watching The Jetsons, how can you be afraid of Robots? And really, given that it the show about the space age family has run in repeats forever (it was first broadcast in the early 1960s, and then some new episodes were...
Hey – I just lost an election! It was not exactly a surprise – I was going up against a 10-year incumbent and I only put a couple of months and a relatively small amount of money into the battle – but it is disappointing...
If Ikea says it’s a trend, it must be a trend. The giant furniture retailer known for its affordable products as well as its make-a-day-of-it-and-eat-the-meatballs approach to shopping, is thinking of changing strategy. Noting that tight budgets mean people do not want to shell out...
I love this: the newest trend in travelling is ‘Literary Tourism’, or making a pilgrimage to the birthplaces of your favorite authors or the sites of their books. As this article from the Atlantic details, it is certainly a gentler way to vacation than doing...
I am no animal expert but I know this for sure: no dog secretly wants to dress up as a Chia pet for Halloween. Having said that, given that Buzzfeed is touting a Chia outfit as one of its ‘easy costume ideas for pets’ this...
I wasn’t a tween and did not have a tween in the 1990s when Delia’s when in its heyday, but I certainly remember its cute logo, a mix of upper and lower case lettering. It was a regular in malls, a bright presence full of...
Call them shallow if you will, but when scouting for men women generally prefer those with jobs. According to a survey by the Pew Research Center, fully 78 percent of never-married women say that finding someone with a steady job would be ‘very important’ to...
Can’t you just hear executives around the world gnashing their teeth? Now that Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group has an approved a ‘take as much vacation as you want’ policy, there is going to be pressure for other companies to offer them as well. Question...
Here’s a a dry news headline that buried in the back pages of business sections yesterday but deserves a closer look: according to debt-ratings service Moody’s, the 25 largest U.S. public pensions face about $2 trillion in unfunded liabilities. Translation: unless something changes, retiring U.S....
I had no complaints, really, the last time I called a plumber. The nice lady on the phone (Lorraine) was efficient, she gave me a four hour window and sent out a cheerful plumber (Brent). He fixed the pipes under my sink then gave me...
‘Work is Not a Place’ is one of my favorite catch-phrases these days. I use it to talk about how people can work anywhere, why telecommuting makes sense, why commercial construction may be affected by a trend towards working away from offices. I believe it...
Mumbia has a shortage of taxi drivers - but is it a real shortage? ...
I have to admit, following the antics of the world’s central banks has been a bit of a bore the past few years. Since the end of the financial crisis (no, we are no going to debate whether there is a still a crisis going...
I have never been to Portland, Oregon but it sounds like a pretty cool place. As it turns out, it is so cool that lots of people have gone there. Thing is, now that they are there they are not sure what to do with...
It is a reality, and it is not fair: if you leave the workforce for a period of time, even for a good reason, your career can suffer for decades to come. Women have known that for a long time though the ‘motherhood penalty’ on...
Oscar the Grouch as a great innovator? Well, not exactly, but apparently Sesame Street, the venerable children’s television show now in its 45th year, has taken a pro-active view of innovation for a long time. Give the show’s longevity, perhaps there are lessons for other...
Fifty dollars a bottle and priced just right. Now, I’m not talking about a delightful little bottle of burgundy that goes nicely with braised lamb shanks for autumn dinners. The burgundy, after all, would be 25 ounces worth. I’m talking about a bottle of nail...
It is not the first time, and it probably will not be the last, but International Monetary Fund (IMF) President Christine Lagarde is urging women to enter the Japanese labor force and at least buffer the effect of a rapidly aging society on the economy....
‘Come here, we will give you a great deal on real estate!’ ‘No, come here and you’ll get a tax break!’ ‘No, come here instead and we have a grab bag of subsidies so awesome it will be like you are operating for free!’That’s what...
I really don’t think Serena Williams needs any sympathy from me, particularly when it comes to talking about earnings, but it still bothers me a bit that she is frequently referred to as one of the ‘highest earning female athletes ever’, rather than just ‘highest...
Of course I like Whole Foods. How can you not? It is like going to a carnival, almost. The cheeses are beautifully displayed with generous samples offered, the prepared food aisles are filled with yummy products you never knew you wanted, the flowers are always...
Want to deal with the problem of income inequality? The answer is not, as many argue, to simply do a Robin Hood steal-from-the-rich-and-give-to-the-poor thing. According to a new study by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) , the best way to deal with inequities is to...
I’d like to think I am unique, imaginative, creative, different – and maybe I am all those things. But my deciding to tip-toe into politics is not a sign of that apparently. Oh right, let’s go back a step. I am now a politician, more or...
When you hear about the hard times for today’s graduates do you nod sympathetically while secretly rolling your eyes? If you are older than 20something yourself, you may well believe that things have always been tough for new grads, and that no, things are not...
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is out with their new Employment Outlook and – as these things go – it is a fairly upbeat piece in that they do see the big picture improving, particularly in countries like Canada. Beyond the big...
Does the evolution of neighborhoods in London, England have lessons for other cities? It might, which is why I found this article from The Economist so interesting. At issue is the gentrification – or lack of it – in Kentish Town, a neighborhood in north London....
I admit, I have some qualms about the idea of bikes and cars co-existing peacefully together. I live in Toronto, the location of many a pitched battle about what should be built for whom and how much it is worth spending on roads or bike...
Apparently, there is now a ‘vacation penalty’ in North American workplaces. Heading to the beach? Sure, go ahead, but your career might go nowhere. That gloomy scenario is according to an article in the Wall Street Journal, and it says a lot to me about...
Free markets or authors? Book sellers or publishing companies? If you support one player, can you not support another? That seems to be the convoluted case as it is being played out by Amazon.com and the publishing company The Hachette Book Group, and it leaves...
First Starbucks, then Maxwell House, now Keurig – anybody who sells coffee is raising prices, and no wonder. Thanks to a drought in Brazil, coffee prices have risen by a staggering 50 percent over the past year. That means companies are passing on the costs,...
Which is better in economic terms: a country with with an aging and declining population or one with a youthful and growing one? Or what about if we are talking about the world as a whole – if a genie asked you to pick one,...
Maybe I am reading too much into the demise of Crumbs, the used-to-be largest cupcake chain in the United States, but I think its crumbling illustrates some key trends. Read more in this blog [caption id="attachment_1289" align="aligncenter" width="275"] Crumbs Crumbled[/caption] I wrote for the National Speakers Bureau...
Well, it is not a popular position in the media these days, but yes I am in favour of the Temporary Foreign Workers program. Read my reasons - and they have everything to do with labour supply and keeping the economy functioning - in this...
The news on U.S. personal incomes over the past decade or so has been pretty dismal, and following the recession it has been especially dismal. The one bright spot, however, has been for women who as a gender have somehow managed to move ahead even...
It is kind of an urban myth, if you’ll pardon the pun: there is a story afoot that people are leaving the suburbs and moving back to the cities. I’ve written about the trend myself, but honestly perhaps the best evidence that it is true...
'Financial Repression' or the generational divide over low interest rates. ...
I am thrilled with this review of Economorphics written by the Globe and Mail's Harvey Schachter He concentrates on the demographic theme of the book, which really is the overriding one. ...
The first chapter of my book Economorphics deals with the closing of the 'demographic window'. Taking things a bit further, in this Commentary piece for the Macdonald Laurier Institute I look at the implication for Canada of a closing window- and how the country can maybe...
Coca Cola's results (NYSE: KO) disappointed...
Well, its jobs week in the U.S. so let's take a look at a stat that sometimes gets overlooked: the harshly-named 'Job Losers Not on Layoff as a Percent of Total Unemployed'...
My adventures in self-publishing continue: forget content, I'm outraged at the cost of postage ...
See my Globe and Mail blog here ...
See my Globe and Mail Economy Lab blog...
See my Globe and Mail Economy Lab post here...
See my Globe and Mail Economy Lab blog.....
I'm self-publishing my new book 'Economorphics' - and I'm happy to be doing it. ...
See My Globe & Mail Blog here...
See my post on the Globe and Mail's Economy Lab here...
The protests over the World Cup in Brazil may be a leading indicator of the way things are going to go in the years ahead. Read my post for the Globe and Mail's Economy Lab here...
See my post from the Globe and Mail's Economy Lab here...
See my blog on the Globe and Mail's Economy Lab here...
See my post on today's Globe and Mail Economy Lab...
See my post from today's Globe and Mail Economy Lab here...
Freelancing may be becoming a new norm - and that's okay in an economic sense...
see my post on today's economy lab...
See my post form the Globe and Mail's Economy Lab here...
Not quite the end of the year, but still a good time to take stock of where the jobs were in 2012. See my post on the Globe and Mail's Economy Lab here...
The Bank of Canada makes a rate announcement tomorrow and it is likely to be accompanied by a dovish statement. Se e my blog on Globe and Mail's Economy Lab here...
The U.S. economy is still in a precarious place ...
The world is headed for a slower growth phase thanks to demographics - but good policy can change things ...
There are too many involuntary part time workers in Canada - but it is not clear that that trend is going to change anytime soon....
Canada has the option of a rate cut if the world slows further. ...
More Canadians are working, but are they making more money? ...
Boomers have moved into the cities - but that might not drive city growth forever. ...
Going to university is pricey, but it still offers the biggest bang for the buck for most people. ...
I am honoured to have been named a Senior Fellow at public policy think tank The MacDonald Laurier Institute. Read more here...
Here is a link to an article I wrote for Advisorsedge.ca (the site for Canadian financial advisors). I call it a cheat sheet to questions that clients will be asking about the economy...
The ECB makes their announcement today and we are counting down to the U.S. jobs report. ...
Here's an interesting item from on a possible softening of China's one-child policy. Faster population in China will not necessarily be the salvation of that economy, and faster economic growth from China will not necessarily be the salvation of the world economy - but it would at least be a start. Aging population – market time bomb?
Okay, that’s a sensationalistic way to put it, but that’s certainly one of the fears people have about an the shifting demographics in North America. Last time around I looked at how portfolio size tends to trend lower as people go past 65. All things being equal, the older the population gets, the more money that is going to be pulled out of the market. Question is, at what point does the ‘market time bomb’ thing go from sensationalism to reality – or does it?
I am fascinated by all the reaction to the Tiger Mom book. You know the one, or maybe you've missed the fuss so far. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother (Penguin Press, 2011) by Harvard Professor Amy Chua is the story of how one mom, the American-raised daughter of Chinese-born parents, decided to raise her own children using 'Asian' rather than 'Western' parenting strategies. well maybe - but not neccessarily. See my blog for the bnn site at http://www.bnn.ca/Blogs/2011/01/07/Match-made-in-heaven-Oil-prices-and-US-recessions.aspx...
I like offbeat economic indicators - the number of boats or RVs sold, what colors are in the crayon box, etc. etc. A lot of time they tell you what is going on just as well as some of the stuffier stuff (y'know, GDP and all that) that we all track every day. So I was glad to see the U.S. Census Bureau release their survey of 'movers' - people shifting households.
Now that the U.S. economy looks a just a teensy bit better (I know, I know the National Bureau of Economic Research won't say that the recession is over, but still) it's probably okay to start adding up the cost of the crisis. The Pew Research Institute has a new study out that does just that. 
Okay, this one seemed a little out of sync for me: doctors would apparently be employees than free agents. Or at least that's what the New York Times says, in this article that was splashed across the front of the business page. 
n, and not without cause. We all know the theory behind it, more or less. The boomers are aging, and they are going ot exit the labor force. The generation coming up behind them was not nearly as plentiful in numbers, so they won't really be replaced. So, as long as the economy keeps growing and nothing major (immigration, labor force paritcipation rates etc.) changes, then there will be lots of unfilled jobs out there. 
Baby boomers are going to retire and take down the pension system. Generation X is lazy. Generation Y is spoiled and undisciplined, and they've pretty much blown out their eardrums by having them stuffed with ipods all the time anyway. The recession has taken what was more or less an nicely operational system, and created an absolute mess, a jobs situation without enough jobs and with years to go before we get to anything you could call 'normal'....
I was going to write something very business-like about the Olympics, something about the returns to invesment for Vancouver or Canada or something like that. On second thought, though, at this point I'd don't know that anyone can really do justice to the topic without...
Loved this article from the Wall Street Journal on the battle for bride dollars. Basically the wedding magazines still standing (some folded during the ad recession of 2009) are battling each other to grab the soon-to-be-married market. And, despite the fact that revenues for U.S....