On Thanksgiving weekend I was thankful for many things, such as my family, my friends, my home in this lovely province, and my job.

Alberta is allegedly experiencing an employment boom right now. Indeed, it does appear that many more jobs are sprouting up. But the jobs that I am seeing are entry-level, part-time, low-paying, front-line positions in retail and fast food outlets run by large corporate chains, the owners of which will never see most of the employees hired during this "boom".

The market around here seems to be very friendly to consumption-oriented stores offering a plethora of unskilled labour opportunities, most of which involve wearing a uniform or shirt embroidered with a corporate logo which the general public will experience the comfort of recognizing because of heavy advertising.

I worked at one such part-time job several years ago, at a bookstore. My employer offered such benefits as subsidizing one's education if that person takes courses which are relevant to his or her position in the company. I was a "book-seller". I was taking a university degree in literature. I was turned down by my employer for the education subsidy benefit. Perhaps I was naive for believing that knowing about books was relevant to selling books.

I am currently employed at another large corporation. There are no full-time non-management positions in my department. All of the staff is part-time. The shifts we are given are always seven and a half hours long, thus working us just shy of what is considered to be a full day. It is against the rules for us to work more than 37 and a half hours in a week, unless we are specifically asked to do so by the scheduling department.

Our contracts are officially "casual". We are not even considered to be permanent employees, even though not one employee has ever been dismissed because their contract was at an end. We receive no benefits. Employees of other departments receive perks like taxis to and from work before and after dark. Recently, the corporation that I work for laid off thousands of employees. My department was untouched.

I do not know a lot about labour legislation. But it seems to me that employment in this province is shifting more towards holding part-time, no-benefit, no-perk, non-permanent work as the standard.

At my job, we are told by our superiors that we are receiving the best contracts that the corporation can offer while surviving against its competitors. I am sure this is true; but if the contracts offered to entry-level staff across this province have been getting skinnier, how have changes to average management and executive contracts compared? If it is a common trend in our society and economy that general staff are being paid less as inflation continues its normal upward motion, are top dogs being similarly affected? Why is it that competition is forcing every company to pay its staff less? If employees are getting less, who is getting more?

I enjoy my job. I love the tasks I do, I love my co-workers and managers, and I love other aspects, like the location and flexibility. That's why I'm still there. And I'm thankful for my friends, family, and beautiful home landscape, and that is the very reason I am still in Alberta. But I have done many job searches recently, and for individuals with my skills and qualifications, there are many excellent (and excellently remunerated) positions in Ontario and Quebec. I'm starting to think that my province is not so thankful for having me.