Unemployment, under and over employment, work-family tensions, growing job inequalities, retirement with dignity, jobs for youth--from this short list it is clear that there is a pervasive sense of crisis about the issue of employment, or the lack of it. This book is designed to spark debate that will begin to critically assess the directions that work is headed in. Based on years of research into work, Lowe takes on many of the myths about employment that are fuelling this sense of crisis and takes a fact-based look at emerging trends in employment and what we can do about them. He argues that we must shift our thinking from simple numbers of unemployed to thinking about the quality of the work that we do. We must change our approach from tinkering with the edges of the problem to reorganizing work and work environments. Quality Work advocates renewing working life through an agenda built around quality of work as a way of ensuring Canada's continued social viability and economic prosperity. The crisis in work is not just about unemployment but reflects inadequate opportunities for meaningful work that offer personal development, a social purpose, a decent standard of living, and a sense of economic security. Far from being whimsical or fiscally irresponsible, quality work can become the common ground on which individual workers in search of fulfilling employment and employers with an eye on the bottom line can meet.

Author Biography

Graham Lowe is at University of Alberta.