Math – a partial antidote to hyperbole

The Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour is trumpeting a report on wealth sharing, authored by Laval Political Economist Travis William Fast. (Which I would like to read and would happily link to if anyone can provide a .url or .pdf)

According to VOCM, the report concludes:

“The Canadian average for the last decade of wages as a share of GDP was 51 per cent compared to just 38 per cent in our province.”

While the attribution of this statistic to “corporations being the big, big winners” is popular mantra, the advocates behind this spin might also want to take into account the relative size of NL’s labour force, which continues its rapid and unabated decline. It is likely a more significant contributor to that ratio, and is certainly a far more troubling one.