Thesis
Canada has indeed become a post industrial nation as seen in steep declines in national industry so far as in manufacturing, resource collecting, and other goods producing labor. An explanation of how work has changed in Canada due to globalization, politics, and technology is seen to have guided service sector employment to the fore front of Canadian society. Higher education will be seen as a key factor to future “good” employment.

BODY

Industrialization refers to the technical aspects of the accumulation and processing of a societies resources. Industrialism is defined as a social or economic system built on manufacturing industries (Oxford Dictionary). Has Canada become a post-industrial society? I would sure have to say so!
Canada of course still has aspects of manufacturing and resource processing across its vast provinces, but technology is quickly creating a new society of higher educated workers selling their knowledge of computers, not just the hardware and circuitry, but also the software and 01010’s that comprise the interfacing with the hardware. Of course that just scratches the surface of technology but at least you are now pointed in the general direction of where and how work will be done.
To understand fully where we are today let’s look at the characteristics of an Industrial society and that of a post-industrial society, one that is leaving and entering a new age, much as industry did to agriculture. An industrial society utilizes technical machinery in a factory or manufacturing plant overseen or worked by less people than it would have taken to say, unearth metal ore, purify it, and then shape into a useable material. Little control by the worker over his or her work is prevalent and a small and specific skill is used and sold to a capitalist owner and controller.
In the post-industrial society we see a heavier sway towards education, a rise in what Marx would have referred to as the petite bourgeois, in that of IT workers and Consultants. Workers would now have more control over how they sell their knowledge as opposed to labor, or a combination of the two. We start to see the service sector generating more wealth than the manufacturing sector and creative ideas, research and development become of higher value.

Canada has seen a rapid change in that of its workers as globalization and automation of industrial processes gave way to cheaper forms of labor. A clear sign enthusiasts of the subject would point out is that the white collar workers are starting to outnumber the blue collar workers in Canada’s employment sector. Automation in manufacturing has seen large declines in manufacturing and resource industry employment stats, along with sharp increases in service sector industry employment rates. There is more disposal income in the post industrial workers pocket, leading to trends of hired help for house cleaning, errands, meals, etc. giving way to private enterprise.
Post Industrial is an often used and accepted description of today’s society. As the larger portion of labor is less involved in the manufacturing of goods and resources we find ourselves embracing the technology age. An age of globalization, faster than ever communication, and round the clock services for a multitude of needs. As industry ends and technology begins, the interim label of post-industrial aptly suits where we are today. Looking at this statement statistically we can observe Canada’s movement from the agricultural age, employing almost 50% of Canadians in the late 19th century, and now employing less than 2% in the early 21st century, to the industrial age, employing over 30% of Canadians by the mid-20th century, down to under 20% in the early 21st. Service sector employment, taking place of manufacturing has climbed to over 75% of Canadian employment as of 2008. Clear signs that times be a changing.
Industrial jobs mostly taken by men, have been replaced also by women and youth in service sector positions mostly filled in food and beverage, the largest sector within the largest service group, retail.
Canada’s government has steadily moved its economy to the shape and rhythm of world economies. Where there was once much manufacturing in Canada with large exports of the nation’s vast raw materials, and the manufacturing of American goods from the U.S., we see a shift and change towards free trade, NAFTA, and global efforts to move manufacturing to less expensive sources of labor, such as Mexico in this example. The core values of capitalism have propelled Canada to cheaper forms of international labor and higher levels of education and standards nationally. Education has become a key factor in job selection and remuneration. Canada has propelled itself to respectable heights in levels of post-secondary education at almost 50% amongst people aged 25-64, also testing very well in international assessment testing of math, science, and literacy. With current trends in employment, higher education has been linked to lower unemployment rates, leading to a stronger new economy. CONCLUSION
The automation of jobs in factories and manufacturing plants has added to fewer jobs, this coupled with the out sourcing of many manufacturing processes to other countries with far lower labor costs and/or labor structure. This has led to an increase in goods and a decrease in manufacturing jobs, but huge increases in retail opportunities and employment. These often low level jobs add and increase availability of work to women and youth workers, adding to the declining industrial stats that did not offer many opportunities to woman and youth. These jobs often leave people struggling in most urban centers.
The true way forward in a post-industrial Canada is through higher education and higher thinking, coupled with free enterprise and innovation. The labor restructuring that globalization has introduced to world markets has quickly modified what it is we do and how we will thrive in a modern society.

REFERENCES

Krahn, Harvey J., Graham S. Lowe, and Karen Hughes. Work, Industry, and Canadian Society, 6th Edition. Nelson, 2010. VitalBook file.