In my youth I thought that if I studied earnestly, worked hard and was honest I would charge forth with a great career, family and life. This is what I was told by all and I believed them. The last 10 years here in Toronto has shown me otherwise. I am a racialized Canadian living in Toronto. Raised and educated (multiple degrees in computer science and business) in Toronto, Canada, ready and willing to work, I find it difficult to get a break back into full time employment.
By destiny, luck or fate, I live in a Toronto neighbourhood that has a high percentage of Chinese families. I have often wondered, like many families, if by neighbourhood is safe, relative to other Toronto neighbourhoods. As well, if a friend from China was about to migrate to Toronto and wanted to live in a safe Chinese neighbourhood, where would I recommend? This blog post tries to answer these questions.
So Canada is much better off than all other OECD countries? We have economic growth of supposedly 2%. How can this be? Statistics magic saves the day. Lose well paying full-time jobs, gain low wage part-time jobs, and call it even. Unfortunately your average citizen here in Canada knows first hand that job and economic statistics do not put food on the table. Long-term joblessness, as I know first hand, is a common and growing problem. We need to overstate that this personally decimates the job seeker but society overall. The negative implications long-term joblessness or unemployment are widespread and damaging to society in general. The newly jobless scale back discretionary purchases. The long-term jobless change their philosophy of life and spending, resulting in radical systemic changes to our retail and marketing environments. Health deteriorates, resulting in higher long-term health costs. No matter if you are currently employed, long-term joblessness will affect you directly or indirectly.
