Answer to Question #237474 in Marketing for saleemaslam

Question

As a student, what are those factors that determine the number of labour hours that you will supply to a firm? How does your labour force participation or otherwise impact the Canadian economy? 

Please relate this to your personal experience in the labour market.

word limit: 250 words

Answer 1

There are a lot of factors that determine the number of working hours an individual can provide to a company ranging from personal factors to legal factors. It gets even more complicated for a student. Take the example of Canada, for instance, the maximum number of hours an international student can work in a week is 20 hours. Inexperience as a working student, the first thing I came to notice was that my academic schedules affected the type of job I would choose and the resultant numbers of work. A key priority is to balance academics and work. The other factor is the kind of contract I would engage in. For instance, a company can indicate that one ought to work for a maximum of 2 hours a day in a part-time job. The other factor would be the number of employees in the company. This is because this factor affects the shift duration and, in turn, the total working hours.

Whereas I consider my participation in the labor market less significant, a macro-level perspective can indicate that it plays a significant role in the bigger picture. Participation in the labor force is a critical factor for economic growth: Companies are enabled to increase jobs and boost productivity when more people join the workforce. Economic and financial consequences of variations in labor force participation are substantial. Lower workforce participation rates are related to reduced GDP and government revenue. Since persons who are not in the workforce are much more likely to participate in some government benefit schemes, it is also linked to higher federal spending.