2013 Left Us Wanting More … Jobs
The December jobs report was a spectacular finish (not in a good way) to a rather discouraging year for the Canadian labour market. When the dust had settled, it turned out that employment growth averaged 8,500 per month in 2013, compared with 25,900 in 2012.
This anaemic job growth was not enough to keep up with the growth in the labour force, as on average, 10,500 new jobseekers entered the labour market each month in 2013. Even more disappointing, 80% of job growth over the year was in part-time work.
Young workers and men age 25-54 bore the brunt of the labour market slowdown. Only workers over 55 saw an improvement in their employment rate in 2013.
Un(der)employment was 14%, nearly double the headline rate of 7.1% for the year.
With continued budget cuts expected from provincial and federal governments, household debt-to-income ratios at all time highs, and meagre business investment, it’s hard to see how the picture will improve in 2014.
Since Angella beat me to it here, I posted my commentary on today’s job numbers on the CCPA blog.
Of possible interest:
The Social Enterprise Sector Model for a Job Guarantee
By Pavlina R. Tcherneva
“It’s time to change the conversation from creating jobs for the jobless now, to creating jobs for the jobless always. The Job Guarantee provides the solution. I have explained elsewhere why neither the private sector nor the flawed bastard Keynesian pump-priming policies can get us there……
Larry – thanks for your link to the Tcherneva article. I am in the process of putting together a social enterprise designed to create opportunity for persons suffering from Traumatic Brain Injury. The proposal may be found at the following URL: TBI Proposal
i would be glad to hear from the other readers of PEF and obtain their critique.
Also with regard to jobs. What is the PEF response to the proposed Harper Job Grant program? My sense is that this is another transfer from the citizen to the corporate sector. Very ironic considering that Harper cut corporate tax rates which shifts more of the cost of govt to the citizen while at the same time cutting services to the citizen and increasing subsidies to the corporate sector.