WORK SOC 720 / Labour Markets, the State and Inequality

3 unit(s)

This course is aimed to provide students with an in-depth understanding of labour market and employment policy in the public and private sectors and the formal and informal labour markets. Part of the course will involve evaluating the role played by governments in regulating employment from the post-World War II period to the present. Two enduring themes inform this course. First, the course will examine labour market segmentation and how different groups, especially women and people of colour, experience different employment conditions out of which arise diverse employment issues. The second theme underlying the course involves understanding how the state and government regulations since the early 1980s have affected employment issues and the capacities or willingness of governments and/or employers to regulate employment conditions. The course will focus on Canada but will periodically introduce comparisons with other countries.