If you were as eager as hundreds of thousands of other Canadians today, you may have signed up for the Federal Government's much-touted Do Not Call List (DNCL) which became available for the first time today. As reported by the Globe and Mail, over 200,000 people had signed up by 9 am this morning and within hours the site had crashed. Clearly this is a popular move in the public's eyes.
While I may be more than happy to eat my Kraft Dinner without disruption come 6:00, there may be a large mass of people who now find themselves without a job.
In Peterborough, Ontario (where I live and go to school), a fairly hefty chunk of the local economy is made up of call centres. They may be annoying workplaces, but it can not be denied that they employ a solid percentage of the Peterborough population.
The DNCL may have a very detrimental effect on call centres in general and they will be forced to downsize with such a fall in the demand for their services. For Peterborough, this is less than desirable.
Peterborough is not the richest city in Ontario. Its economy has historically been centred around the manufacturing sector, which as we're seeing in the globalized world, is a dying sector in Canada. As community staples like the General Electric plant begin to downsize, the last thing the city needs is the gradual fall of another one of its main employers.
On a more personal front, Peterborough is home to Trent University's main campus, with roughly 7,000 students enrolled. For a student, additional cash throughout the school year is a definite plus and one that is certainly hard to come by in a city like Peterborough, where good student jobs are hard to find. This leaves many students to pursue part-time work through the call centres. These guys might be in trouble, too.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
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