Canada – Lies, damn lies and jobs numbers

That data shows that the government’s claims about strong job growth, like Flaherty’s above, are more than a little misleading.

A slightly better measure is the unemployment rate. Of the seven years after the Conservatives took office, Canada’s unemployment rate was higher than the OECD average for four years and lower for three. The latest year for which the OECD has released cross-country figures, 2012, shows Canada beating the OECD average by 0.9 percentage points.

But even that isn’t terribly enlightening: The unemployment rate fails to measure people who have stopped looking for work. Is there a better way to assess the health of the job market under the current government? Start with the employment-to-population ratio — the percentage of working-age Canadians who have a job. Instead of cherry-picking a time period, let’s start at the beginning of the Conservatives’ time in office.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at Lies, Damn Lies and Jobs Numbers, Canada Edition – Bloomberg View.

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