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The Centre for Future Work is a progressive research institute, founded in 2016, with operations in Canada and Australia. The Centre is a unique centre of excellence on the full range of economic issues facing working people: including the future of jobs, wages and income distribution, skills and training, sector and industry policies, globalization, the role of government, public services, and more. The Centre also develops timely and practical policy proposals to help make the world of work better for working people and their families. The Centre is independent and non-partisan. [Jim Stanford, Director.] --Website description

This review of the state of labour and distributional struggles in Canada, compared to the experience of other countries, paints a cautiously optimistic picture. Canadian workers have been relatively successful in preserving their organizational and institutional power (including relatively high and stable rates of unionization). Perhaps more importantly, Canadian workers have been active in wielding that power – both through industrial conflict and political advocacy – to defend and even improve their share of the overall economic pie. --From author's conclusion

The article reviews the book, "Corporate Governance in Global Capital Markets," edited by Janis Sarra.

The article reviews the book, "The Economics Anti-Textbook: A Critical Thinker’s Guide to Micro-Economics," by Rod Hill and Tony Myatt.

The article reviews the book, "Sharing the Work, Sparing the Planet: Work Time, Consumption, and Ecology," by Anders Hayden.

Abridged version of Stanford's lecture on on the theory and practice of progressive trade policy given on the occasion of his award of the John Kenneth Galbraith Prize at the Canadian Economics Association's meeting in Montreal in June 2018. Presents a 10-point plan that includes making market access conditional on human and labour rights.

All three global automakers currently manufacturing vehicles in Australia have announced their total shutdown of operations there by 2017. This shutdown has sparked some fears that Canadian auto manufacturing may follow a similar trajectory. This article reviews the factors contributing to the closures in Australia and considers key structural, economic, and policy differences between the Australian and Canadian cases. The Canadian industry enjoys several structural advantages compared with Australia, chief among them its large and bilateral trade relationship with the United States. These advantages suggest that the Canadian industry has a better prognosis.

"[C]onducts a wide empirical study of Canadian employment data in search of any evidence that higher minimum wages reduce employment or increase unemployment. The authors examine the relationship between minimum wages and employment in all ten Canadian provinces betwenn 1983 and 2012, finding no consistent evidence that minimum wage levels affect emoployment in either direction. Instead, their research concludes that employments levels are overwhelmingly determined by larger macroeconomic factors." --CCPA Monitor, Nov. 2014

This concise and readable book provides non-specialist readers with all the information they need to understand how capitalism works (and how it doesn’t). Economics for Everyone, now in its second edition, is an antidote to the abstract and ideological way that economics is normally taught and reported. Key concepts such as finance, competition and wages are explored, and their importance to everyday life is revealed. --Publisher's description

Paid work associated with digital platform businesses (in taxi, delivery, maintenance and other functions) embodies features which complicate the application of traditional labour regulations and employment standards. This article reviews the extent of this type of work in Australia, and its main characteristics. It then considers the applicability of existing employment regulations to these ‘gig’ jobs, citing both Australian and international legislation and case law. There is considerable uncertainty regarding the scope of traditional regulations, minimum standards and remedies in the realm of irregular digitally mediated work. Regulators and policymakers should consider how to strengthen and expand the regulatory framework governing gig work. The article notes five major options in this regard: enforcement of existing laws; clarifying or expanding definitions of ‘employment’; creating a new category of ‘independent worker’; creating rights for ‘workers’, not employees; and reconsidering the concept of an ‘employer’. We review the pros and cons of these approaches and urge regulators to be creative and ambitious in better protecting the minimum standards and conditions of workers in these situations.

There is abundant evidence that when workers can provide input, express opinions, and influence change in their work places. Providing workers with regular, safe channels of “voice” at work increases their personal motivation and job satisfaction. It benefits their employer, too, through reduced turnover, enhanced productivity, and better information flows. And it contributes to improved economic and social outcomes—everything from stronger productivity growth, to less inequality, to improved health.... Summary and main findings

Challenging the Market offers insights from eighteen scholars and activists from around the world. Calling on a tremendous range of experience in different countries, different industries, and with different groups of workers, contributors argue that labour market policy should shift to a more interventionist and compassionate footing. For two decades economic and social policy in most of the world has been guided by the notion that economies function best when they are fully exposed to competitive market forces. In labour market policy, this approach is reflected in the widespread emphasis on "flexibility" - a euphemism for the retrenchment of income support and social security, the relaxation of labour market regulations, and the enhanced power of private actors to determine the terms of the employment relationship. These strategies have had marked effects on labour market outcomes, leading to greater vulnerability and polarization - and not always in ways that enhance worker-centred flexibility. The authors offer a more balanced analysis of the functioning and effects of labour market regulation and deregulation. By questioning the underpinnings of the "flexibility" paradigm, and revealing its often damaging impacts (on different countries, sectors, and constituencies), they challenge the conclusion that unregulated market forces produce optimal labour market outcomes. The authors conclude with several suggestions for how labour policy could be reformulated to promote both efficiency and equity. --Publisher's description

Across Canada, union coverage is inversely proportionate to inequality. From lifting wages and securing employment benefits to advocating for public programs, union power is a bulwark against inequality.

The Centre for Future Work has released new research regarding union coverage and wages across different racialized categories of Canadian workers. The report also contains a review of efforts by Canadian unions to improve their representation of Black and racialized workers, and recommendations for strengthening the union movement’s practices. ---Website, 2024/08/13

The article discusses the opportunities and challenges facing the labour movement in Canada during the global financial crisis and the neoliberal restructuring of the economy.