Canada – The economy has not created enough jobs says the Canadian Labour Congress

The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) argues that while Statistics Canada’s approach may be accurate it is not detailed enough to convey the true landscape of the labour market.

“The economy has not created enough jobs, and those that have been created are disproportionately precarious … more Canadians are unemployed, marginally attached, or simply not engaging in the labour force,” the CLC report states.

The biggest omission, says the CLC, is the category economists call “underemployment,” which captures part-time workers who want to be full time, along with the involuntary self-employed and other underutilized workers.

That data shows underemployment is twice the 7.0 per cent unemployment rate and, among youth — those in the 15 to 24 year age group — it is almost 28 per cent. As well, there are discouraged workers who have stopped looking for work but would take a job if one could be found.

“As work patterns change, with greater use of part-time employees and other forms of precarious labour, the headline unemployment rate becomes less and less useful on its own,” says senior economist Angella MacEwen, the report’s author.

“Statistics Canada produces that information, we just want them to publicize it and make it more available to the public.”

MacEwen notes that over 80 per cent of the 102,000 jobs created last year — a tiny number in historic terms — were part-time. The problem is especially acute among youth, she adds.

TD Bank economist Francis Fong, who tracks youth unemployment, says a “deeper look” into what is happening to the vulnerable group would be useful, although the data Statistics Canada does release already paints a bleak picture, he adds.

The most telling number is that the employment rate — the number working as a percentage of the total in the age group — is down to 54.5 per cent from about 60 per cent in 2008, he explained.

“The data we have does indicate youth is really suffering this time around,” he said. “The fact of the matter is there are five percentage points of the entire population that used to be working that are no longer working; we’re seeing a structural drop in the demand of youth labour.”

And there is little data capturing the number of university graduates who may have found jobs, but not in their field of expertise, or are working gratis in internships.

Statistics Canada labour force manager Christel Le Petit said the agency does collect a number of indicators related to underemployment, including involuntary part-timers, marginally attached and discouraged searchers. The data is available in the Cansim database, he said, although it not captured in the labour market survey report the agency publishes each month.

MacEwen said better information is just the first step in tackling the problem of underemployment, adding that governments need an “employment strategy” to create better paid and more secure jobs.

E-mail this Article

Print this Article

Share this Article

STORY TOOLS

E-mail this Article

Print this Article

Font:

SPOTLIGHTS

Quebec Votes 2014

The latest from James Mennie

Download the HIO app

Charbonneau Commission: Latest updates

Follow us on Twitter

Skaters! Check your rink

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

FROM THE WEB

Restaurant Chain Reduces Customer Wait Times and Increases Employee Productivity with Tablets

Intel

‘How We Die’ author Sherwin Nuland dies at 83; had ‘beautiful life’

The Montreal Gazette

FROM THE WEB

Poly Culture soars 27pc in debut on Hong Kong exchange

South China Morning Post

Amber Heard keeps five-carat oval diamond engagement ring from Johnny Depp under wraps

The Montreal Gazette

Recommended by

LOCAL FLYER DEALS

Style and Value Come Together

Home Depot Canada

Meet the Sleek Performer Designed by You

Dell

Find the Perfect Couch for Your Family to Share!

The Brick

Save on Your Oil Change Essentials

NAPA Auto Parts

via Hidden jobs data paint a bleak picture of Canada’s labour market: CLC.

Related articles

• Canada / All the jobs created since a year were in the low-paying, economically insecure, sales and service occupations
• Canada / Is the widespread assumption that Canada is suffering from a growing shortage of labour true?
• Canada’s Youth / The unemployment rate doubles the average and there is no job economic recovery
• Young and Jobless in Ontario / A report by Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives