Sometimes age and experience can pay off.
In Canada, as in many other countries, an aging population can face financial uncertainty as it heads toward retirement.
But for now, older workers are in big demand in the workplace.
Canada’s see-sawing labour force swung back into job-creation mode in February, with a net 50,700 people finding work. Most of those new hires were aged 55 or older — continuing a trend from January.
“This a actually typical of business cycles,” said Craig Alexander, chief economists at TD Economics.
“People are living longer, healthier lives. That means they can stay in labour market longer.”
He says it is a demographic story but also true that “workers with more skills and more experience have better labour market outcomes.”
The data at a glance
Here’s a quick look at February unemployment (previous month in brackets):
- Unemployment rate: 7.0% (7.0)
- Number unemployed: 1,332,600 (1,322,800)
- Number working: 17,696,400 (17,645,700)
- Youth (15-24 years) unemployment: 13.6% (13.5)
- Men (25 plus) unemployment: 6.0% (6.1)
- Women (25 plus) unemployment: 5.6% (5.5)
Work prospects for youths tend to diminish during a recession because businesses pull back on hiring.
“But when businesses start to hire, there are unemployed workers who actually have work experience that others don’t have,” said Mr. Alexander.
Friday’s employment report from Statistics Canada also confounded analysts who were looking for only meagre gains in February, accompanied by a small rise in the jobless rate.
Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor
via Jobs: Canada gains smash expectations thanks to older workers | Economy | News | Financial Post.
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