Canadian Productivity - Why so Low?

[petros]

A person is limited to the amount they can produce with the tools and technology they are provided.

The real problem is reinvestment by foreign corps back into R&D and updating production lines in Canada.

 

[JLM]

Compared to many European nations, most of which have higher rates of productivity than Canada, the number of days off for Canadian workers is quite low. In fact workers in nations like France are entitled to five weeks paid vacation per year, which beats most Canadian by about two weeks. France and other European nations also give workers all of the benefits you mention as well.

I still suspect that the large percentage of foreign ownership in Canada is the real reason. There really is no incentive for foreign owned companies to carry out a lot of R&D in Canada or in some cases to even modernize their plants.

OK, now this financial crisis in Europe is starting to make some sense. :smile:

 

[taxslave]

OK, now this financial crisis in Europe is starting to make some sense. :smile:

It is called freeloading socialists killing the goose that laid the golden egg. Just hoping their kids will foot the bill.

 

[Machjo]

Compared to many European nations, most of which have higher rates of productivity than Canada, the number of days off for Canadian workers is quite low. In fact workers in nations like France are entitled to five weeks paid vacation per year, which beats most Canadian by about two weeks. France and other European nations also give workers all of the benefits you mention as well.

I still suspect that the large percentage of foreign ownership in Canada is the real reason. There really is no incentive for foreign owned companies to carry out a lot of R&D in Canada or in some cases to even modernize their plants.

And how does that compare with Canadian-owned companies in Canada, such as Bombardier?

 

[Machjo]

And what about Canadian-owned companies abroad?

I doubt ownership itself plays any major role here. It simply has to do with the law of the land. A foreign company on Canadian soil is expected to abide by Canadian law, just as a Canadian company on foreign soil is expected to abide by their laws. Ownership has nothing to do with this.

 

[Bar Sinister]

It is called freeloading socialists killing the goose that laid the golden egg. Just hoping their kids will foot the bill.

Maybe it has more to do with preferring quality of life over the rat race of US style capitalism. There really is very little reason why citizens of all modern nations could not have a decent number of vacation days and reasonable social services. It is just a matter of organizing society to allow people to have them; instead of restricting such benefits to overpaid athletes, entertainers, stock market manipulators, and corporate executives.

 

[Bar Sinister]

And what about Canadian-owned companies abroad?

I doubt ownership itself plays any major role here. It simply has to do with the law of the land. A foreign company on Canadian soil is expected to abide by Canadian law, just as a Canadian company on foreign soil is expected to abide by their laws. Ownership has nothing to do with this.

Obviously that would not be Canadian productivity. It would be Mexican, Chinese or Brazilian productivity or whatever country the Canadian company is located in.

 

[JLM]

Maybe it has more to do with preferring quality of life over the rat race of US style capitalism. There really is very little reason why citizens of all modern nations could not have a decent number of vacation days and reasonable social services. It is just a matter of organizing society to allow people to have them; instead of restricting such benefits to overpaid athletes, entertainers, stock market manipulators, and corporate executives.

You got all that right- sickening- $64 million for a goal tender. :lol:

 

[Machjo]

Obviously that would not be Canadian productivity. It would be Mexican, Chinese or Brazilian productivity or whatever country the Canadian company is located in.

My point is though that any company on Canadian soil, whether Canadian or foreign-owned, has to abide by the same laws, so I don't see the relevance of ownership here.

 

[taxslave]

Maybe it has more to do with preferring quality of life over the rat race of US style capitalism. There really is very little reason why citizens of all modern nations could not have a decent number of vacation days and reasonable social services. It is just a matter of organizing society to allow people to have them; instead of restricting such benefits to overpaid athletes, entertainers, stock market manipulators, and corporate executives.

You forgot to add union members. Having staff take up to 6 paid weeks off every year plus paid sick days and hiring someone else to cover for them is a huge expense.

 

[darkbeaver]

Productivity is determined by extraction over time. There are many people in this thread who don't apply the equation properly. You can work at a minimum wage job at maximum banker judged productivity while in fact you are a worker with very low personal productivity. Productivity won't necessarily improve your lot, in fact in the overwhelming number of cases it does not result in personal improvements. Again we are victims of flawed thinking. Many people work very hard every day for minimum wages and judge themselves to be productive valuable employees. Valuable to who? Certainly not to their dependents. They insist that if the unions are busted the bankers will pay decent wages. If you piss away your time for a pat on the head you're as dumb as a post. You want to be productive? Extract like a banker. You're agree with their criteria already why not take the next logical step?

 

[darkbeaver]

Again, Canadian substandard productivity, low response, lazy, too stupid to emulate their masters the banking elite, too simple to succeed to any higher reward than the next greatest cheezeburger platter or a gleaming new Chevrolet penis extender. We're all slaves, we don't even know what wealth is and all we ever produce is debt.:lol:

 

[YukonJack]

I admit this is anecdotal, but in my opinion it reflects on productivity:

A number of years ago when I was still working, I was walking across the floor in the factory where I first started as a labourer, but managed to shake of Union chains and work for myself, without thugs speaking for me, I walked under a catwalk, where a unionized electrician was working. Accidentally, or more than likely, on purpose, he dropped a pair of plyers. I picked it up, offering to throw them up to him, but with the usual verbal eloquence, he told me to go and f..k myself, he can come and get them himself.

It was a 70 foot walk to the end of the catwalk, 15 steps on the ladder down, several steps to the plyers, same number of steps back to the ladder, 15 steps up the ladder to the catwalk, 70 steps back to the place where the plyers were dropped.

Almost forgot: he took a smoke break while he did all that.

Productivity? It does not exist in Union vocabulary. The expression screw the hand that give you a job, does.

 

[Bar Sinister]

You forgot to add union members. Having staff take up to 6 paid weeks off every year plus paid sick days and hiring someone else to cover for them is a huge expense.

I believe the question of unions came up earlier in the thread. At that time it was pointed out that many nations that outperform Canada are more highly unionized. Given that fact I don't see unions as the problem, especially as the most heavily unionized sector of Canada's economy is in the area of education, health care, and social services; all areas that have very little influence on productivity.

 

[petros]

It's not unions. it's foreign ****ing ownership who don't have a patriotic or obligatory need to reinvest in their short term Canadian facilities. They could care less about 5 years from now when ownership in an industry is not guaranteed.