From: sitomlin@cantor.math.uwaterloo.ca (Stephen I. Tomlinson)
Subject: Re: 500 New Jobs Per Day
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1993 04:42:50 GMT

In article <9301120043.AA06052@booth.USask.Ca> Glenn_Chin@engr.usask.ca writes:
>From: sitomlin@cantor.math.uwaterloo.ca (Stephen I. Tomlinson)
>>...companies are vocally emphasizing their renewed emphasis on productivity.
>Doesn't productivity always go through the roof shortly after a recession?

Yes, to some extent.  But productivity growth was still less than 3% in 
each of 1983 and 1984 (the recovery from the last recession), while in the 
first 3 months of 1992 (the most recent data I have) productivity rose at an 
annualized rate of 5.7%.  Obviously, a 3 month sample is not nearly enough 
to demonstrate that Canada has attained a sustained higher rate of 
productivity growth; it'll be years before we can tell for sure.

>I think Canada's best days in terms of economic prosperity are behind us.  
>We have to now work hard to meet the unprecedented foreign competition,

Foreign competition is not unprecedented to Canadians.  Canadians already
sell more of what they produce in foreign markets than do citizens of 
almost any other country.  Studies by the Economic Council of Canada on the 
impact of freer trade on Canadians in the 1970's and 1980's showed that
Canadians successfully specialized in particular product lines, boosting
their productivity, and then traded for those products Canadians didn't
produce themselves.  More competition simply spurs Canadians to ever greater 
levels of achievement.  Canada's uncompetitive companies go bust, and
Canada's competitive companies expand to meet the demands of their larger
market, their new employees learning what it takes to succeed in the
global marketplace.  

>and give reasons to corporations to locate jobs here.

While foreign investment in Canada boomed after the signing of the
Free Trade Agreement, it should be noted that since the mid-1960's,
large corporations have seen their number of employees fall as a group.
Canada's high rate of job creation has been thanks to small businesses.

Also, according to my entrepreneurship instructor of last term, most
entrepreneurs start their businesses where they are already used to 
living.  If that's true, then it's clear that the best way to create
jobs in a certain region (say Newfoundland, where they could really use
some more), is to encourage the people who already live in that region to 
be more entrepreneurial (apparently, Newfoundland's government is already 
working at doing this).  History shows that trying to attract companies
to regions from outside, especially through tax breaks to certain 
companies, just doesn't work out.

That's another reason why one should expect faster productivity growth 
in the (long-term) future.  While there is still a lot of research to do,
enough about the principles of innovation and entrepreneurship is now known
that educators can successfully teach them.  By teaching entrepreneurship,
I don't mean teaching the writing up of business plans, but teaching
people how to innovate, how to develop unique competitive advantages,
how to develop entrepreneurial skills such as research, creativity, 
advocacy and leadership, and how to evolve ventures either as an employee 
or as an employer, and for profit or for social good (or most likely, both).  
I know the entrepreneurship course I took this fall will affect my life more 
than any other course I've ever taken, and once these principles are being 
taught to everyone, and they certainly can be integrated into the school 
curriculum right from grade school, you should see an unprecedented rise in 
Canadians' levels of achievement (and presumably in the rest of the world
too).  Canada's (and probably the world's) best days are yet to come.

>Glenn

-Stephen
Xref: sparky soc.culture.canada:9962 can.politics:11427