Abstract

Precarious Employment in the Canadian Labour Market

Leah F. Vosko
York University

This presentation will examine precarious employment in the labour market with attention to the social relations of gender and race. Drawing together research from three large-scale projects, it will proceed in four parts. Part I it will describe the decline of the standard employment relationship and the rise of non-standard work in the contemporary Canadian labour market. After revealing the heterogeneous character of non-standard work, Part II will advance a working definition of precarious employment and highlight some preliminary conclusions of research attempting to measure the size, shape and demographics of the precarious labour force in Canada. The talk will conclude with a discussion of the types of research necessary to advance an understanding of precarious employment in Canada that is attentive to equity issues – Part III will base its insights from research in-progress or underdevelopment at Canadian universities and employ their findings to challenge policymakers to make a large-scale intervention on this important issue.

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For more information about the conference, contact:
 
Sarah Zgraggen
The Willow Group
Tel: (613) 722-8796;
Fax: (613) 729-6206;
e-mail: szgraggen@thewillowgroup.com