These are the words of Mr. Terry Sheehan (Member of Parliament, Sault Ste. Marie) who requested in Private Members’ Business M-194 that the House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (the Committee) study precarious employment in Canada. This report “Precarious Work: Understanding the Changing Nature of Work in Canada’’ outlines the results of this study.

Specifically, the report outlines the critical dimensions of precarious employment including: low-income, lack of security and lack of opportunity. It discusses important elements of precarity including: low-wages, income volatility, insecure working arrangements, unsafe work, lack of access to social protections, lack of opportunities for career advancement and skills training as well as vulnerable workers.  It considers how these elements can be organized to better understand the interconnected problems within precarious employment and how the government can help to make worker’s lives less precarious. To this end, it outlines a range of tools, like the Canada Labour Code, Employment Insurance and skills training programs, that the government presently has for this purpose.

The report goes on to explore witness testimony which speaks to the need for greater clarity and better data to understand and address precarious employment. Witness testimony also underscores that the economy and our workplaces are in the process of profound transformation which is the result of technological and demographic changes, as well as globalization. While we need to adapt, we also need to looking forward to the new opportunities and greater possibilities that these changes bring.

The final section of the report presents conclusions and the Committee’s recommendations to Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) including recommendations for ESDC to work together with other federal departments and agencies to define, measure, and address the challenges of precarious employment, in order to better protect workers and to embrace the future of work.