LOC {CASTL} FC/3850/P65/M13 Mb/129510 c. 1 MCCOLM., BILL WHAT PEOPLE LOOK FOR IN A JOB n~f111rnt1l~fl~llU~]~fIf 11111/ll llUf 8001623439 111111 WHAT PEOPLE LOOK FOR IN A JOB~ Portugese Iviale: Immigrants e:nroiled in the English Language Course .at Selkirk Colle·g~ from January 12~ 1976 to April 2, 1976~ Port March 7, l.976::'" Sociology 121. Bill Mccolm., LOCAL FC 3850 R35 M13 1976 1. WHAT PEOPLE LCX)K FOR IN A JOB: Portugese Nale Immigrants enrolled in the English Language Course at Selkirk College from January 12, 1976 to April 2, 1976~ Bill Mccolm What do Portugese male immigrants in a clearly defined group look for in a job? How do personal history factors· and personal attitudes affect what these Portugese male im!nigrants want in a job? ,Although this present inquiry deals with Pa.rtugese male immigrants enrolled in the English Language Course att Selkirk College from January 12, 1976 to.April 2, 1976; it$ findings might possibly apply to other minorit.y immigr-.nt groups of similar circumstances and composition, in other settingso METHOD The Portugese male immigrants this inquiry focuses on are but a smaller part of the entire Portugese community in. Castle-· -garo The Portugese community numbers approximately four· hundred people; or approximately eighty working men and their families~ All of the respondents for this report were layed off from canadian Cellulose Co. Ltd., Interior Lumber Operations 1 division, on November 14, 1975. All of the respondents· held positions as manual labourers and had very little seniority in the S--wmill 's labour force. When the Sa:wmill discontinued one eight-hour shift from their three eight-hour shifts work schedule due to over production, the respondents:' lack of seniority dictated their inclusion in those e·mployees whoJ were· layed off. 2 .. Any effort by the respondents to find another ste~rly job was futile. The respondents suffered from a limited under-standing of the English language and were consequently not considered prime potential employees by prospective employer&. Therefore an English Language Course was established unde::r- the; joint auspices of the Department of Manpower and Immigration and the Unemployment Insurance commission to; improve.: the English comprehension of the respondents and thereby ho.pefully facilitate the respondents speedy reintroduction into the work force~ The respondents for this inquiry form the: complete Portugese male population of the co.urse3 The English Language Course was designated a canada ~~npower. Training Program, but was funded jointly by the Department of' lV".anpower ,and Immigration and the Unemployment. Insurance Commission,. The respondents. received the sa._me anount of money while taking the course as they would have from Unemployment Insurance~ Therefore no monetary disadvantage or incentive resulted from taking the coursee It must also be noted that the respondents were guaran-teed by the Sawmill 1 s managerial staff that no one taking the English Language Course would lose their seniority at the sawmill if they were called back to work while taking the course. and chose instead to continue with the course .. I obtained the subjective and objective information forming the basis for this report through the use of a structured 1 closed form questionnaire. I utilized a variety of quesi1ion forms in the questionnaire in order to minimize the effect of any tendancies on the part of the respondents to follow a pattern while answering the questions. ) . The questionnaire was given t.o all sixtee·n people in the English Language Course even though I was only concerned with the eleven fortugese men in the class. The whole class was given the questionnaire as opposed to only the Portu.gese males, in order · t.o prevent the desired respondents from feeling conspicuous;o The questionnaire was administered to the people in the English Language Course under the supervision of the two Coiurs..a 1 instructors. Due to the generally poor English comprehension of the respondents, this method was ~onsidered best for pur-poses of any necessary interpertation~ Through this method I lost a great deal of the advantage afforded by the respondents filling in the questionnaires in private; but by the same token~ all the questionnaires were returned and usea9;le. MAIN CONCEPTS .AND CATEGORIES Previous surveys have been conducted on Portugese comm-unities as a whole3 and some general views of the· Portugese male immigrants' .attitudes towards what is important in a job can be ·derived.from these surveyso Grace Anderson stated in her report that Portugese immigrants stressed the security a job would provide~ She s.tated thamz nrncome is of paramount importance in the lilfe of the immigrant.• " In my inquiry I endeavoured to test the valid.ity of' Anderson's statement by determining the gravitat.ion of my respondents towards the various work factors as developed by Christopher Beatti~.l.f- I devided job aspects according to Beattie is generai.I terms of n ••• factors relating to the content of the work and those bearing on the context in which work is done .. 0 ,,n Beattie listed career opportunities, opportunities \ to apply one's accumulated knowledge, opportunities to obtain I more knowledge, and opportunities to work for a public cause as content factors. Beattie listed job security, the job's; locale;, the language spoken on the job, and the availability of work as context factors. Using this material I then established my own factors as they relate to my application. In the questionnaire the respondents were asked to inicata which job factor from the following list they placed the most importance on,, CONTENT lo FACTORS~ The job provides training experience-the job lets one learn new skillsq 2~ The job offers more control over one's own working space and pace-the job offers the option of piece work., 3. The job offers a chance for promotion~ 4, The job allows one to try ou~ on~'$ ideas and make full use of onis abilities~ 5. · The job offers the chance to do work that will make one happy-the job does not induce alienation~ CO NTEXT FACTO RS ~ lo The job offers security through good payo 2~ The job offers security through steady employment:o 3. The job has set limits on what is expected from the employee- the job has set working hours~ 4~ The language spoken on the job is one's normal tongue .. 5. The locale of the job is familiar. The manner and order in which these factors were presente'd to the respondents is shown in Table 1. Table 1. Percentages, Most Important Individual Job Factor wanted, of Portugese Male Immigrants "Enrollee?:. in the English Language: course at Selkirk College from January 12, 1976 to April 2, 1976. Job Factor Job. E2'.ct0;r Type L_I The job is easy. L_I The job allows you to do many different things; .. Context tlolf I Context The job is in Gastlegare Content L_I The job offers a chance for promotion~ Co.ntent, f_./ Context The job offers steady employmento L_I The job is exactly the kind of work you want Content. L_I English is spoken on the job .. Go;ntext L_I The job lets you be your own basso Content... ;?/o/ The job offers very good pay .. Context L_I The job trains you in a trade., Content: L_I Context;. to do. Portugese is spoken on the job .. N*:ll * These are the bases on which the percentages are computed. ~ a. The instructions to the respondent were as follows: "Which item in the following list is the most important condition you want in a job? Place an X in the.·-box. right next -to the_ item that is most important to youo Choose only one item and place ?nlY one X on thi~-p~g~_. n . __ , ,-- ~ ."''~ _.. ::: .. ..; .., Table 1 indicates that the respondents are «11 oriented towards job context factors. A distinct devision between those respondents placing the most importance on f!The: jo1b is in castlegar" {64 per cent of all respondents) and those: respondents.: ) . placing the most importance on nThe job offers very good payn (36 per cent of all respondents) is readily apparent however. 6. Throughout this report these two gro;ups will be ref'errerl. 1 to as the 'castlegar' group and the 'Good Pay~ group~ These· two groups will be analysed in an attempt to determine what the respondents f'rom either group want in a job, and: how per-sonal history factors and personal attitudes af'f'ect what the respondents want in a job. Table 2 reaffirms the position of both groups as being job context orienteds Although both groups are job cont~t oriented, the castle gar group places some importance on job content factors~ Whereas the Good Pay group is 100 per cent oriented towards all job context factors; the ca.stlegar group is only 63 per cent oriented towards all job context factor$Q The most outstanding feature shown in Table 2 is that t.he.: castlegar group respondents ~ll place greater importance· on being able to learn new skills and improve· themselve·s than on the income a job will provi~eo Three pairs of job context statements were included in the questionnaire (page ,7) in an att.empt to determine the respond~ents' willingness to improve the context in which his work is done if' such improvement should entail a certain amount of' job insecurity. ('t~J?l~~J) • Sixty-seven.... per_,;~cent o:f the Good Pay gr9up stress security, as compared to only 57 per cent of the castlegar group. The only action that the Good Pay group is willing to take is to learn English. Not only does the castle:-gar group indicate its willingness to learn English, but also 27 per cent of this group are willing to allow an ordi~ry job ) " opportunity pass them by in order to get • chance at a better job in a little while. It should be noted f'rom TalDle· } that all respondents are willing to learn to speak English. Table 2 Percentages, Choosing Between Paired Content-Cont€-'x:t. Job Factor Statements, of castlegar and Good Pay Groups. \ Job Factors CONTEXT FACTORS % of % o:L castle- Good Pay -gar Group Group % off All Res.p- o.nde.nts. I~ 1. The job only requires 8 hours work each d~y, 100 lOO 2. Your working speed is controlled by machinery and you get paid for how many hours you work. 71 100 3. The job gives you very good payG 0 100 36 6. You are expected to do only so much workQ 71 100 S2 8. The job offers steady employment" 71 100 82 100 5 days each -.;1eek. Total 100 7p. (N*:4) (N*:ll) I CONTENT FACTORS l~ The job offers a chanoe for promotion. O· 0 0 2. You have control over your own working speed and you get paid for how much work you doG 29 0 1$ _, 3" The job lets you learn new skills and improve yourself., 100 0 6. The job lets you work hard at your own ideas 29 0 g" The job offers you the chance to do the type of work that will make ~you happy" 29 0 37 ( N* : 7 ) ( N* : 4 ) and make full use of your abilities" Total Q, 1$ '24 (N>:~ :ll) · * These are the bases on which the percentages are calculated~ a. The .five statements pertaining to· job content factors as listed in Table 2 were compared in the questionnaire (page 4) to the five context factors in Table 2. The numbers to the left of the statements indicate which factors were paired, and the order of pairs presentatiofr~in the questionnaire. In the questionnaire, statement:,pa.irs 2 and g had the content factor first"' Statement pairs l~ 3, and 6 had the context fac't.or first ... This was done to minimize the effect of any tendancy to check boxes down a c:ol!umn, regardless of distinction between the pairs. 1, 8. Table 3. Percentages, Choosing Between Paired Context Statements, 0f castle,-gar and Good Pay Groups. %of castle>.- Good Pay -gar Group Group % of Job Context Factors Stressing Security % of" A11. Re~sp- o,nd:e:nt,s .. 4 The job is near cast.legar. 100 100 JDO 5 The people at wo:Ek speak only Portugese ~ 0 0 0 7 There is an average job available right. 71 100 S2 51 67 61 ( N* : 7) N* : 4 ) ( N-'"'.<: lli 0 0 0 100 100 0 18 now. Total Stressing ImErovement --I+ A better job is offered somewhere else~ 5 The people at work speak Portugese and English. 100 7 There is a chance for an excellent job if you 29 - wait a little while. Total 435 {N*:7) * These ~re the bases on which the percentages are calculated. a. The three job context factors stre·ssing security listed in table 2 were compared in the questionnaire -·'(page 7~· to the three job context. factors emphasizing improvement. The numbers to the le-ft of the job factor statements indicate which statements were paired and their or-der of' presentation. - F.ELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JOB FACTOR GROUPS AND VARIOUS PERSONAL HISTORY FACTORS AND PERSONAL ATTITUDES OF RESPONDE~'"TS .. Two job factor groups have been established in this report: the castle gar group and the Good Pay group~ Although both groups. are oriented towards job context factors, the castlegar group shows a greater tendancy to place some importance on job content factorso What respondent attributes influence this ambivalence of orientation? The respondents range from twenty to fourty-nine yeoars of age, but there is an unequal representation of age s in each 1 job factor group~ sll the respondents fourty years old and • I older are in the Good Pay group (Table 4) ~ The 40-49 ag&. cat~egory' encompasses 75.per cent of the Good Pay group, with the remaining 25 per cent being in the '310-39 age cat~gory$' The GOod Pay group has no representation in the @2D-29 age category,• and yet 71 per cent o:f the castle gar group are in this category. It. that the older respondents are prone to be oriented t_o- ~ppears ~wards the Good fay group and greater securityo 1 \ ) All single respondents for this report are in the Castlegar group (Table 5) $ The Good Pay group is completely composed of'. married men, whereas 29 per cent of the castlegar group are single •. Although the majority of the respondents have one or· two children {Table 6), 43 per cent of the children~ ~~ilegar grol!l]!>' have:: no In comparison, 50 per cent o.f the Good Pay group have: more than two children. (one member of the Good Pay group indic00ated he had seven children)._ ¥.tarried, older respotjdents with families: are represent.,ative of the Good Pay group~ This orientation towards greater security could be attributed to the greater number of dependents and the congruent greater responsibility the Good Pay group has .. AlJi. of the respondents, regardless of age, are still responsible· for any children they might have since all the children are still living at home~ 10. Table 4. \_ Percentages, Relatio~ship setw:: en Group Orientation and R_esr»ond-ents r Ages, Of castle gar and Good Pay Groups .. Age Category ~ of castle- -gar Group fv of Good Pay Group wf al1 R.espond-ents. oJo 20-29 71 0 45 30-39 29 25 27 40-49 0 75 27 (N:7) (N:4) (N:ll) * The figures may not add ve·rtically to 100 per ce:nt due. to .rounding error. Table 5" Percentages, Relationship Between Group Orientation and RespondMartial Statusj Of castlegar and Good Pay Groups. ~ents 1 ~ Martial Status % of castle-gar Groµp ) oJ, of Good Pay Group % o.£'all Res:pond-ents Married 71 100 82 Single 29 0 18 (N:7) {N:4) (N:ll) 11. Table 6 .. \ ! Percentages, Relationship Between Group Orientation and the Number of Children Respondents Have. #or Children the Respondents % of castle- 'fa of Good -gar Group Pay Group r orientation is borne out by the results of my inquiry. The average number of times the respondents from the r~od Pay group went to Church during the twenty-five day period immeadiately preceeding the date on which the questionnaire was filled in was four tirr~s. During the same period of time the castlegar group only went tQ Church an average of two and one~half times per person. The lower attendance displayed by the castlegar group cou1d indicat~ they allow less Church influence iri their lives and it could also be a reason for their being more job content factor oriente