Canada: Discouraged Workers

discouraged workers: But Flahertys words and the statistics he uses to back them up dont match whats happening in workers lives. They havent recovered from the recession. They were hurled straight from the economic meltdown into a harsh new reality: a Canada of chronic job insecurity, uneven growth and deteriorating living standards, according to The Star. Some of this information is crucial to understanding the post-recession job market. Although the official jobless rate 7.2 per cent looks moderate, it would leap to 10.3 per cent if discouraged workers were included. These are people who have given up their job search, convinced they have no hope of finding work. They may well be right. As of April, there were six unemployed workers for every job vacancy. While the economy has added 950,000 jobs since the recession more than replacing the 400,000 lost during the downturn , the population has grown by 1.8 million. As a result, 61.7 per cent of Canadians are employed today, compared to 63.8 per cent four years ago. Temporary, contract and casual work has grown at triple the rate of permanent employment since the recession. Part-time work has also climbed steadily. As of March 2013, a total of 3.3 million Canadians worked part-time an increase of 93,000 over pre-recession levels. Men over 25 societys traditional breadwinners are most heavily affected. They experienced a 23.2 per cent increase in part-time jobs, whereas women in the same age group often regarded as secondary earners experienced a 9.2 per cent increase. The duration of joblessness has risen since the recession. In 2008, the average job-seeker was out of work for 14.8 weeks. Today it is 20.2 weeks. And young people have been hammered repeatedly. Last month alone they lost 46,000 jobs; more than any other any group and For two solid years, Jim Flaherty has been insisting that all the jobs lost in the 2008-2009 recession are back. Even last week, as Statistics Canada reported an unexpected drop of 39,400 jobs he was bullish about the direction of the labour market. Private employers are still hiring, the finance minister pointed out brightly. The public sector lost 74,000 jobs; the private sector gained 34,600. To explain this paradox, Citizens for Public Justice , a faith-based social action organization, has produced a primer on labour market trends. It is one of the most sophisticated pieces of research to come out of the anti-poverty movement. It tracks the job market since 2008, tapping into data Statistics Canada doesnt normally publish. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.