Michel Cournoyer

HD Mining / Jobs advertised in China at lower pay

A mining company that has hired hundreds of temporary workers from China for its northern B.C. coal mine advertised those jobs in Canada for $10 to $17 less than what is paid for similar work at a nearby mine, a lawyer representing two unions told a federal court judge on Friday. HD Mining also advertised … Continue reading →

UK – Hard hit by job cuts in banking sector

GLOBAL banks have slashed almost 160,000 jobs since early last year, including more than 21,000 across taxpayer-backed lenders Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland, and more lay-offs are in the pipeline as the industry restructures. Redundancies in the banking sector have outpaced new hires by roughly two-to-one according to a study that shows … Continue reading →

Closing the Skills Gap / Connecting College Students and Employers

There are two major factors we need to address to close this gap and bring students and young professionals closer together with employers. The first factor is empowering students to make informed decisions about their degree and courses they take. It takes 120 credits to graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree, yet the national average is … Continue reading →

China / 61 percent of Chinese doctors hate their jobs

A survey conducted by a group of Hunan university students has given a sobering look at the attitudes of China’s doctors. The study, conducted by 5 third-year students at Hunan Normal University, surveyed 363 doctors at 19 hospitals. Of those, 61 percent reported that they were unhappy with their profession. Middle-aged clinicians had the lowest … Continue reading →

Sandy / Cheers for jobs program

CHEERS: For a $15.6 million emergency federal grant program that will pay for unemployed New Jerseyans to do temporary work helping to clean up the shore in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. It’s an idea so logical that some government skeptics might scarcely believe it came from elected officials. Out-of-work South Jerseyans who want to … Continue reading →

FED / Lockhart / Aggressive Easing Needed For Jobs

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart said forceful central bank policies will remain needed to spur job growth even if Congress averts sudden tax increases and spending cuts at the end of the year. “I expect that continued aggressive use of balance sheet monetary tools will be appropriate and justified by economic conditions … Continue reading →

Canada / Are Temporary foreign workers filling gap or depressing wages?

News that a consortium of mostly Chinese companies will seek permission to use exclusively Chinese labour for underground work in four proposed B.C. coal mines has blown the lid off a simmering debate over the dramatic increase in the use of Canada’s temporary foreign worker program. The Harper government, which only last spring announced measures … Continue reading →

India / IT-BPO sector to add 230,000 jobs in 2012

According to NASSCOM, the Indian IT-BPO sector continues to be an employment generator and is expected to add 230,000 jobs in FY 2012. This implies direct employment to nearly 2.8 million, and indirectly leading to employment of about 8.9 million people. Similarly, 2013 will witness hiring at all levels, right from freshers to highly experienced … Continue reading →

Gender Gap / Unequal access to ‘hot jobs’ says Catalyst

Women around the globe are blocked from advancing in their careers because of unequal access to high visibility jobs and international experience, according to a new report. After graduate school, women start at lower level jobs than men and receive less pay, and the gender gap just gets wider as their careers progress, the study … Continue reading →

India / Energy Revolution could generate 1.5 million jobs by 2030 writes Greenpeace

The second edition of India Energy [R]evolution in 2012 provides a practical pathway for India to secure its energy particularly electricity supply to achieve its long-term ambitious economic growth along with providing access to modern electricity technology to a 300 million population who are still waiting to see light in their homes while remaining low … Continue reading →

Canada / 11,000 public service jobs cut since last budget

The Conservative government has wiped nearly 11,000 jobs off the federal payroll, mostly by attrition, and is on target to cut the remaining 8,200 over three years, according to Treasury Board President Tony Clement.Clement said the government is more than half-way to its target to eliminate 19,200 public service jobs. Of the jobs cut, 7,500 … Continue reading →

Add your thoughts here… (optional)

Unemployment Benefits Around The World

Losing your job is awful, but it’s less awful in some places than in others. Call it the real estate rule of unemployment — it’s all about location, location, location. But where’s the “best” (or least awful) place to lose your job? Israel. Unemployment is created equal but unemployment benefits are not. The chart below, from … Continue reading →

Employment In Europe / Some perspectives

Over the past decades, there used to be that almost axiomatic, empirically derived law in economics that the natural unemployment *** rate in the US was bound to be lower than in most other western countries (notably European ones). I concentrate mainly on the EU in this answer since the other European countries are mostly … Continue reading →

End of UI extensions / Labor market would lose 400,000 jobs in 2013

Federally funded extended unemployment insurance (UI) benefits are set to expire at the end of this year. These benefits serve two very useful public purposes. Most obviously, they provide a lifeline to the long-term unemployed and their families during the deepest and longest economic downturn since the 1930s.1 Less understood but equally crucial, the UI … Continue reading →