CanadaWorks!

According to Right From Home: How to successfully begin a home- based business in Canada *:

"Almost a quarter of all Canadian households now involves some form of home-work; 47% are involved in self-employed work, 14% are telecommuters, while another 39% are supplementers: employees who bring overload work home to complete during the evenings and weekends. ...Every year more Canadians launch a new home-based business, as corporations downsize, single-industry towns diversify, technological innovations improve, and people continue to seek lifestyle changes."

Did you know that in 2000, older workers aged 45 to 64 increased from 2 million to 6.7 million?

What does this mean? Will the workplace look different? What opportunities can you identify?

According to Statistics Canada, (Labour Force Update: The Self-employed 1997) self employment in the over 55 group shows a sharp increase. There are larger numbers of people taking early retirement. It also takes time to build the kinds of skills, knowledge and attitudes that positively support self-employment.

Catchy Phrases

Learning a living. Business as usual.

Drum up some business.

Fastest growth rates in the Service Sector (as opposed to Goods and Manufacturing)

health care, tourism, recreation (demographic shifts)
high technology areas
computer software design and application
telecommunications

Getting on the Path: Instructor Notes

Research, Research, Research

Introduce learners to time lines by using the sample in the following activity
Explain that time lines are really a line graph or chart
Ask learners to map their own working lives
Review research techniques covered in ISO 9000 section (Note-Taking Skills)
Brainstorm with whole group different careers they find interesting or challenging (These need not be jobs or careers that they have already had.)
Write the careers on card stock paper, put them in a large, empty coffee can and cover the outside with a label that reads, “Career in a Can”
Ask each learner to draw a career from the can, gather information (i.e. from the Internet, books, magazines, or interviews), and share it with others
Make sure learners can access a computer and the Internet
Ask learners to research a trade or profession at www.contactpoint.ca/html/ftp/sheets.html
Again, learners can share information formally or informally (in group discussions or in a presentation format)