The Labour Shortage: A Fantastic Opportunity?

As we all know by now, Canada's baby boomer generation is entering its late 50s and early 60s as what has traditionally made up the bulk of the workforce ages. With this aging demographic brings a whole new set of problems. In the last couple decades, Canada's workforce was comprised mainly of this demographic, the baby boomers. They occupied many of Canada's senior positions in firms, CEOs, Executives, Principals and Financial Officers and Lead Technicians.

These professionals were easy to find in the executives area of any business operation. Now, as more and more baby boomers are retiring, Canada is seeing a shortage of skilled labour. That's right; more and more lawyers, businessman, pharmacists, doctors and engineers are leaving their jobs everyday. This leaves many vacant spots that are just waiting to be filled.

Analysts ask what will happen when all of the baby boomers retire? What will happen to Canada's economy and workforce? The thought of this shortage of skilled professionals has many companies and businesses reeling in shock at the thoughts of reprussions. And they're not just going to sit around and do nothing about it.

Now, many companies and governing boards are giving incentives for senior employees to stay. The incentives are mainly to persuade them that staying at the helm for a few more years won't do any harm. These incentives can come in many forms; more vacation weeks, flexible hours or pay raises. Why would companies do this? If you compare this to the basics of business (that is the supply and demand chain), you can see the correlation. As the number of skilled professionals goes down, the demand for them increases. Therefore, companies are willing to pull out all the stops to keep them from leaving.

It is this high demand for skilled professionals that has made the beginning of the 21st century the best time for the baby boomers; they are in the perfect position to reap the benefits of a desperate economy. Now, the power lies with them; they are free to pick and choose which jobs they want, where they want to be assigned, how much pay they get and how many weeks off they recieve. It is truly a great opportunity for baby boomers now, as they are in high demand and in the position to bargain for whatever fancies them. Of course, there is always the chance that the companies will decide to hire younger, fresh talents instead, but the way it is right now seems to say the exact opposite.

The next generation down, Generation X, is tiny compared to the baby boomers, and so will not be able to fill the gaps left by them when they retire. So the prospects are good for the ol' boomers. And they deserve it. After 50 years of serving the country, they deserve a little reward.

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kamster

This is Madness!

I was really bored after class the other day, so I decided to watch a movie that everyone else had already watched months ago. One in which thousands of Persians are slain by a mere handful of Sparta's premier corp of elite soldiers. Yes, I decided to watch 300.

The movie starts out with a background of Leonidas' (the king of the Spartans) childhood history. In the ancient city-state of Sparta, every male citizen was part of the military, or the militia. They were trained from childhood to make the sword, spear and shield as much a part of their body as their hands and legs. They were trained to ignore pain and injury and to never give up. They were trained never to surrender. It was these childhood training sessions that bred such a stalwart character as Leonidas to lead the Spartans against the innumerable hordes of Persians.

So the story goes that the Persians want to invade Greece. The only way they can do this is by getting through this sea cliff area. At one point, the cliffs make a natural corridor about the width of 20 men side to side. It is here that the 300 elite Spartans make their stand. This is a very smart decision tactically because it is here that their Phalanx formation will work the best; nearly impenetrable from the front and protected from the sides and rear by cliffs. So the waves of Persians pour forth, and like waves breaking on rocks, are destroyed again and again.

Eventually, one traitor named Ephialtes betrays the Spartans by telling Xerxes (the Persian King) a way around the Hot Gates (the choke point used by the Spartans). The Persians go arround, and surround the 300 Spartans with thousands of archers and Immortals (the Persian Elite Guard). By this time, Leonidas knows that they are all going to die. He has accepted this, and so have his soldiers. In their valiant last stand, every last Spartan is shot down as their shields break, spears shatter and swords fail. Finally, Leonidas is left standing, with two arrows protruding from his chest. He roars one final time as a testament to the brave warriors he lived with. Then, the arrows fall.

This movie is technically impressive; the use of special effects and slow motion scenes are used to great effect. There's lots of blood and gore too, which might upset some viewers. As well, there is a short scene of nudity. However, this is a decent movie. I especially like it simply because it is historical and this actually did happen. Of course, they exaggerated the forces of the Persians in the movie, but it is still epic nonetheless. Just the sight of 300 men, willing to die with their King and leader totally struck me with awe.

I believe this is a movie worth seeing, but might not be appropriate for people that are squeamish or afraid of blood (yes, people's legs get chopped off).

Anyways, thats it for now. I wonder if they'll make a 300 2? But then that would be 600... hehe.

kamster

Dusk to Dawn

Hey.

So far, I really haven't posted any pictures yet, so I think I will. I realized that with my crappy camera, I really have to learn to improvise. So instead of setting my exposure time to 15 seconds (which I can't do), I use the starry sky mode. It's these little things that I have gotten me really into photography, and lately I've been bringing my camera with me all the time. Here are some pictures I've taken. Also, I really need to get a new camera. Maybe I'll get a Nikon D40 or something like that.

Also... I need to decide what courses to take next year. I really want to take philosophy but I think that is one of those "do I like this" versus "do I need this" sort of things. Also, there are so many other humanities, and I want to take all of them. I'll probably end up guilt tripping myself and taking law or econ instead, except probably not econ because the teacher is really bad. And then theres AP. Everyone is taking at least 1 AP course (I think) but I don't think I will. Hopefully I won't cave and end up taking on way more than I can handle.

Anyways, enjoy the pics.

kamster

Brown to White

I've been reading this book lately. For english. Does that make it any less worthy of critique? Does it make it "cheap" to write something about it? I think not. To be honest, I would not have come across this book if I hadn't had the opportunity to read it for an assignment. But now that I have chosen it, I feel that it was a good decision on my part, and I don't regret it a bit. Even though its a fair bit longer than Catcher in the Rye or The Secret River.

Oh yeah. The book is White Teeth by Zadie Smith.

This is her first book, and she has decided to write on the story of two families, are their relationships with each other. The families of Samad Iqbal and Archie Jones.

Both families are realistic, comprising what you might find in any ordinary family; bickering kids, bickering spouses, and violent spouses? Or not? Archie Jones is married to a black woman named Clara Bowden, who lost all of her teeth in a fall during her teen years. She is a good 15 or 20 years younger than him, although they seem to get alongwell enough.

Samad is married to Alsana, a young Indian woman who he was promised before she was born. That really made an impression on me. It's funny because for some reason, they always get in fights, and Alsana always wins. But all this tension and humour really adds to this book and makes it an interesting read.

This book, continuing on past Samad and Alsana's fighting and punching, details Samad's cheating, temptations, Archie's purpose in life, and the offspring of these two families mingling.

There are tons of other characters but they are of less significance. Actually, I lied. They're really important.

And this book won some random award in 2000 for the "Best First Book of 2000". Or something. Anyways, it's good. So read it. But Smith has a unique writing style, so prepared for a month of hard reading.

kamster

Promoter

Man I'm so lazy. Everyday I go home saying to myself "I'm going to do my work, and not get distracted with anything else. At least... I'll get my work done before messing around." Yeah right. Who am I kidding. But I think... I'll always have some sort of like... quick fix as they call it. I think... like many other people, I work alot better under pressure. This could be me rationalizing my procrastination, or it could be true.

I've found that I often don't have alot of motivation. For me, I'm prompted to do things only when I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, or am assured of what I will recieve as a result of my actions. Other than that, you might say I'm coasting my way through school. This could be a good thing... or a bad thing.

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TWIG is being a huuuuugggeeee bitch. I don't know how many curling games are left, but I do know there's one today. I feel obligated to get some good photos (and I'll be screwed if I don't) but it just seems that I get the worst assignments at the worst times... Especially with a whole load of crap tomorrow. And I have my stupid club assignments... 9 in total. Holy crap.

time to get back to work

kamster

Just That Time of Year

Dang. I find myself giving the same excuses over and over again for not coming back here. But in reality, I have been really busy, perhaps more busy than someone else might be this winter break. At least I haven't had to stress over work... yet.



Yup so... I went to Cuba last week. It was realllyyy nice there. Lots of sand, sun and surf, as they say. I got like... really tanned in the face (god I hope I don't get like... skin cancer) and watched lots of discovery channel. A couple things that were good was the great beach... It was like totally clean not like those crap beaches you might find in like... Florida or something like that. But there were absolutely no fish. Is that weird or what???? Like, NONE! Unless you swim out farther till you can't touch the bottom. Then there are a few. I also did some kayaking, some shooting (with a pellet rifle!!! Except my aim was horrible because I was looking through the wrong eye) and snorkling. Also speedboating, except I didn't get to drive (obviously). All in all the laws over in Cuba are much more lax than here. I mean, it was a resort and they were putting rifles in my hands. Like... yeah.



Then I got back home for like... a day of respite from non-stop DOING stuff. It was like... I just slept and relaxed at home.]


Two days ago I arrived here at Erie in the states to do some boarding and shopping. It's been pretty sweet... snow was awesome yesterday and hopefully today it'll be good too. When I get back I gotta like... start my work. Stupid. They aren't supposed to give you homework over the break... but they always do. Or at least, they put tests right when you get back.

Sheesh.

kamster