Deck 6: Inequalities in Work and Employment

Question 1

What, according to many commentators, has the labour market been polarizing into over the last several decades?

A) Emotional labour and manual labour
B) Service work and knowledge work
C) Part-time work and full-time work
D) Standard employment and nonstandard employment
E) "Good jobs" and "bad jobs"

Answer 1

E

Question 2

To what do we refer by "the processes and institutions through which workers are allocated to paid jobs"?

A) Social closure
B) A labour market
C) Capitalism
D) Human capital
E) Socioeconomic status

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following is not an assumption of human capital theory?

A) There is a primary and a secondary labour market.
B) Employers make rational hiring and promotion decisions based on ability.
C) Everyone with similar qualifications compete for available jobs.
D) A job's rewards are based on its economic contribution to society.
E) The market rewards those who have the greatest human capital.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Which of the following approaches takes a consensus view of society?

A) Bourdieu's work on social and cultural capital
B) Labour market segmentation theory
C) Human capital theory
D) Split labour market theory
E) Queuing theory

Question 5

Human capital theory has been said to accurately predict which of the following trends in the labour market?

A) Men with university education make more than women with the same education.
B) Returns on education are lower for the foreign-born than the Canadian born.
C) It is easier for some groups to attain high levels of education.
D) Those with higher levels of education typically have higher incomes and lower levels of unemployment.
E) Workers' job preferences are shifting towards flexible work schedules.

Question 6

Which of the following approaches considers the relationship between the access children have to books and international travel, and their educational achievement?

A) Cultural capital
B) Labour market segmentation theory
C) Human capital theory
D) Social capital
E) Split labour market theory

Question 7

Which of the following is the main analytic unit of Pierre Bourdieu's notion of cultural capital?

A) University credentials
B) Social networks and connections
C) Access to resources like books
D) Access to information about jobs
E) Previous work experience

Question 8

The sum of our networks and the value these networks have in given fields such as the labour market is the main consideration of what approach?

A) Cultural capital
B) Labour market segmentation theory
C) Human capital theory
D) Social capital
E) Social closure

Question 9

What do jobs in the "primary" segment of the labour market have in common with those in the "secondary" segment of the labour market?

A) Opportunities for advancement
B) May be located in the same firms
C) Good wages
D) Job security
E) Mobility between segments

Question 10

Split labour market theorists argue that employers sort people on the basis of what trait?

A) Educational credentials
B) Work experience
C) Family size
D) Race and ethnicity
E) Starting labour market segment

Question 11

According to dual systems theorists, how are women disproportionately locked into poorer jobs?

A) By the decisions of employers and the efforts of male workers to exclude or marginalize them
B) By their choice to balance childrearing with paid employment
C) By the decisions of employers and the efforts of female workers to exclude or marginalize them
D) By a lack of access to information about good jobs
E) By a lack of on-the-job training needed for advancement

Question 12

According to Reskin and Roos (1990), what do we need to consider in order to understand the labour market and the distribution of people into jobs?

A) Employers' mental list of the "best" workers for their jobs
B) Social closure enacted by professional organizations such as unions and occupational groups
C) The combined result of employer and employee job queues
D) Workers' queues of desirable occupations or jobs
E) State-legitimated requirements for entry into desirable occupations

Question 13

When employers create mental lists of the "best" workers for their jobs, what trait is likely to not be considered?

A) Education and training
B) Race and ethnicity
C) Union status
D) Gender
E) Age

Question 14

Most unionized workers are now found in what sector of the economy?

A) The resource sector
B) The public sector
C) The manufacturing sector
D) The trades sector
E) The agricultural sector

Question 15

Which industry would fall outside of Statistics Canada's "goods-producing industry"?

A) Wholesale trade
B) Manufacturing
C) Natural resources
D) Construction
E) Agriculture

Question 16

What trend is evident in Canada over the last century pertaining to types of economic activity?

A) The percentage of Canadians working in the goods-producing sector has increased.
B) Manufacturing accounts for much of the job growth in the labour market.
C) Only one service industry-retail-has experienced significant job growth over the last decade.
D) The service sector has expanded significantly while the goods-producing sector has diminished.
E) There has been little change in economic activity in Canada.

Question 17

What do some researchers now call some of the less desirable jobs in the service sector?

A) Blue-collar
B) Manual labour
C) Pink collar
D) White collar
E) Service labour

Question 18

Which of the following is not one of the forms that non-standard work takes?

A) Part-time employment
B) Temporary work
C) Full-time employment
D) Multiple job-holding
E) Own-account self-employment

Question 19

The ratio of people aged 15 years of age and older who are working, to the overall population in this age group refers to what measure?

A) The underemployment rate
B) The employment rate
C) The unemployment rate
D) The credential gap
E) Labour market segmentation rate

Question 20

What do we have when women predominate in nursing and daycare jobs while men predominate in truck driving and construction work?

A) Horizontal segregation
B) Vertical segregation
C) Credential inflation
D) Underemployment
E) Social closure

Question 21

Which of the following traits does not account for occupational segregation?

A) Gender socialization
B) Workers' job choices
C) Differences in education, including area of study
D) Discrimination by employers
E) Underemployment rates

Question 22

Labour markets are affected by __________________.

A) social changes such as the MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements
B) political turmoil
C) environmental decline
D) global warming
E) all of the above

Question 23

Critical race theorists have shown that _____________.

A) the labour market is an even playing field
B) the number of young people with university credentials is growing
C) hiring and promotion criteria that appear neutral can be infused with racial bias
D) hiring and promotion criteria that appear neutral can be infused with gender bias
E) white men are often chosen first because they typically have more university credentials

Question 24

What are blue-collared (or manual) workers?

A) The government
B) Those who work for companies such as Uber and Uber Eats
C) Workers in goods-producing industries
D) Workers in service-based industries
E) People with a high status

Question 25

What does precarization mean for workers?

A) Raising insecurity across jobs
B) Low wages and income volatility
C) Unsafe work
D) Lack of access to social protections
E) All of the above

Question 26

Which of the following is true of the unemployment rate?

A) It fluctuates with the economic cycle and other broader economic trends
B) It does not vary across regions
C) It is a ratio of people 15 years and older who are working to the overall population in the same age group
D) The pandemic did not affect the employment rate, but it did affect the unemployment rate
E) It is the number of people not working who are looking for work as a percentage of the total labour force

Question 27

Which industries have higher rates of unemployment?

A) Resource-related industries like forestry and mining
B) Finance
C) Healthcare services
D) It is balanced across industries
E) Unemployment does not vary by sector

Question 28

In 2014, the average annual income for Canadian company directors was ______, while the average Canadian earned just $38,700.

A) $500,000
B) Only 16% more than the average Canadian
C) Only 20% more than the average Canadian
D) $1.6 million
E) $1.6 billion

Question 29

Which of the following is not true of occupational segregation?

A) Occupational segregation by gender has increased over time
B) It is an enduring characteristic of Canada's labour force
C) Vertical segregation exists within industries
D) Gender essentialist segregation captures differences that align with traditional gender ideologies
E) Occupations are segregated by race and ethnicity

Question 30

What has the Canadian government done to counteract biases on race, gender and ethnicity in the workforce?

A) The Canadian government has not done anything to counteract biases.
B) The Canadian government has implemented pay equity programs to promote equal pay for work of equal value.
C) The Canadian government has implemented systems that use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to choose the rate of pay of workers.
D) The Canadian government has created more jobs that are traditionally for women.
E) None of the above

Question 31

In 2016, how many First Nations people living outside of reserves were employed?

A) 10-15%
B) 30%
C) 99%
D) About three quarters
E) About one half

Question 32

In Canada's labour market, post-secondary education guarantees access to a good job.

Question 33

There is evidence that professional occupations constitute a greater proportion of the employed labour force in Canada.

Question 34

Sociologists often use occupation to gauge a person's location in the class structure.

Question 35

Human capital theory presents a conflict view of society.

Question 36

Human capital theory focuses on the influence of employers' hiring practices on inequality.

Question 37

The human capital approach assumes that the labour market is one large, open arena in which everyone with similar qualifications competes on the same basis for available jobs.

Question 38

Ready access to cultural resources has no impact on educational achievement because schools do not value the knowledge gained from these cultural resources.

Question 39

Social capital theorists argue that individuals from all social backgrounds can easily connect with people occupying influential positions in society.

Question 40

Labour segmentation theory is concerned primarily with describing how individuals move between the "primary" to the "secondary" segment of the labour market.

Question 41

Some firms may have both primary and secondary markers in their workforce at the same time.

Question 42

Split labour market theory suggests that individuals are split into different labour markets due to their minority status and the efforts of the majority to exclude them.

Question 43

Queueing theorists are only concerned with how employers' lists of desirable workers are ordered based on gender, race, and other factors.

Question 44

The greatest reduction in unionization rates in Canada is among men in the private sector.

Question 45

Currently, 79 percent of all Canadian workers are employed in service industries.

Question 46

The service sector is comprised only of lower-tier positions involving lower incomes and educational requirements.

Question 47

White-collar occupations only include desirable jobs.

Question 48

Front-line service workers are subject to control and discipline by customers.

Question 49

Some scholars see the growth of the services sector as a potential contributor to social inequality because it comprises both "good" jobs and "bad" jobs.

Question 50

Temporary and contract jobs are examples of standard work arrangements.

Question 51

Non-standard work is always low-paid and precarious.

Question 52

White, Canadian-born men are over-represented in non-standard jobs.

Question 53

Vertical segregation refers to men and women performing different jobs within the same industry.

Question 54

Gender socialization and personal choice play no role in occupational segregation.

Question 55

Jobs provide income and other rewards, including pensions, paid vacations, among others. Consequently, jobs have a direct bearing on our standard of living and quality of life.

Question 56

The wealthy and well-connected cannot trade on social and cultural capital to find labour market success whereas those who were raised without such capital, or who did not obtain it through their schooling, can.

Question 57

Labour market segmentation demonstrates the labour market as comprising unequal segments, such that movement to a better or "primary" segment from a worse or "secondary" segment is often difficult.

Question 58

The number of young people entering the labour market with university credentials has decreased substantially in past decades.

Question 59

Currently, 79% of all Canadian workers are employed in service industries.

Question 60

Over time, the employment rate has increased slightly, reaching an all-time high of 64% in 2020.

Question 61

Some have said that up to 4 in 10 workers in Canadian urban areas work precariously.

Question 62

Researchers say we should look at precarization as a set of processes raising insecurity across jobs in capitalist societies rather than focus on non-standard or precarious work as a cluster of jobs.

Question 63

In Canada, underemployment is the highest for visible minorities and immigrant workers.

Question 64

Occupations are not segregated by race and ethnicity.

Question 65

How is the Canadian labour market changing? Explain how these changes might contribute to social inequality.

Question 66

What is non-standard work? What are some of the example of this type of employment?

Question 67

What is underemployment? What factors contribute to underemployment rates?

Question 68

What is gig work? what does it mean to be a gig worker?

Question 69

What is cultural capital and what is social capital? Why is the distribution unequal?

Question 70

What are the main assumptions of human capital theory? What does this approach fail to account for in terms of labour market outcomes?

Question 71

Describe Pierre Bourdieu's contribution to the study of the labour market. How are his theories useful in understanding the labour market as a field of unequal power relations?

Question 72

What are some of the long-term implications of precarious work? Provide an example of non-standard precarious work.

Question 73

Discuss how unemployment rates vary depending on different factors, such as age, minority status, indigeneity and others.

Question 74

What are some ways that occupational groupings might hide the amount of gender-based segregation in the workplace?

Question 75

Do you think that we live in a true meritocracy? What non-merit factors might influence where you end up in life?

Question 76

What qualities are you looking for in your first job? Do you expect to find them? How do you feel reading about the changes Canadians are facing in the workplace?

Question 77

The pandemic and associated lockdowns have had a strong negative effect on employment. If you were (or know anyone) employed at the beginning of the pandemic, how was your (or their) employment affected?