Among industrialized countries, Canada has the highest proportion of residents with a post-secondary education, yet we also have the highest rate of degree holders working in jobs earning half the median income or less. And a rise in precarious employment and the widening gap between knowledge sector jobs and entry-level jobs is creating income disparity.

Better Work: The path to good jobs is through employers, by Metcalf Fellow and labour market policy expert Tom Zizys, examines our under-performing labour market and challenges the popular notion that the threat to good jobs is inevitable.

Better Work chronicles the economic and political changes that have brought us to our current situation. It reconstructs the advent of our global economy and reflects deeply on its effect on employment practices. Central to its premise is a simple proposition: workers are not a cost to be constrained but, rather, an asset to be invested in.

In response to the current catalogue of troubling trends — from youth unemployment to increased income inequality — Zizys constructs a multi-dimensional, comprehensive approach for redressing labour market dysfunctions and deficiencies. It outlines an integrated set of strategies to promote workforce development, strengthen the capacity of labour market intermediaries, and cultivate the corresponding norms and values that together can create more equitable labour market outcomes. Stated simply — it lays the groundwork for creating better jobs for more people.