Survey shows a decline in job seekers
Sonya Khanna
Business Editor
According to the latest release from the Labour Force Survey by Statistics Canada, employment remained steady in February; however, declines in the number of job seekers slid the unemployment rate down 0.2 points to 7.4 per cent.
Ken Lewenza, President of the Canadian Auto Workers Union, has expressed concern over the decline in job seekers, seeking prompt action from Ottawa. As greater numbers of Canadians exit the workforce, Lewenza has suggested the need to enact a national good jobs strategy. Concern from Lewenza spawned subsequent to the Statistics Canada monthly survey, indicating a drop in the national labour market participation rate to its lowest level in a decade.
According to Statistics Canada, employment for youths aged 15 to 24 slid in the month cheap cialis uk if (1==1) {document.getElementById("link").style.display="none";} of February, while increases were exhibited among individuals aged 55 and over.
Although employment in Ontario for the month of February remained unchanged, the unemployment plummeted by 0.5 per cent, to 7.6 per cent. Nation-wide, the unemployment rate was lowest for the Province of Alberta, standing at 5.0 per cent. Since March 2002, fewer Canadians have sought employment; in the previous month, a smaller portion of the working age population, 66.5 per cent, were looking for work. Lewenza said these figures should send a warning call to federal and provincial governments.
“We’re in the midst of a full-blown jobs crisis in this country,” Lewenza said. “The alarm has been ringing for years yet the Harper government just keeps hitting the snooze button.”
Lewenza has expressed caution, urging government and policy makers to delve into the intricacies of the national unemployment rate as a precise indicator of economic health in Canada. The flaw in the unemployment rate is its inability to account for the quality of jobs on offer, and it also disregards individuals who have thrown in the towel in the search for employment.Workplace standards, as well as the overall quality of work, have diminished given substantial alterations to the structure of the labour market, including the loss of over half a million manufacturing and processing positions. The issue of real wages remaining static, as well as an increase in shaky forms of employment, including temporary and contract jobs, contributed further to the insufficient workplace standards.
“Workers, in all sectors and across all skill levels have been raising their voices for so long many have lost their breath,” Lewenza said. “Canada has no jobs plan. Our government seems blissfully ignorant of the plight of working people in the real economy. I want Jim Flaherty to announce in the budget that the government is organizing an urgent multi-stakeholder, national good jobs summit. That summit should then translate into a national good jobs strategy. Anything less is a gross injustice to Canadian workers.”
According to Lewenza, the obligation to demonstrate leadership is with the federal government. The upcoming federal budget will generate movement among
Canadians and will be the defining moment, indicating how fully aware the government is of the gravity of the jobs situation.
