Danger: Wage Deflation Ahead
The labour market is in much worse shape than the official 7.3% unemployment rate implies. The latest evidence for this proposition is today’s miserable report on employment and earnings from…
labour market
Families, Time and Well-Being
Inequality of well-being among families with children is increasing at an even faster rate than income inequality, according to a new study by Peter Burton and Shelley Phipps, “Families, Time,…
Recent Immigrants and the Crisis
It is no secret that times of high unemployment and precarious work are especially tough for new and recent entrants to the job market, notably young workers and recent immigrants.…
The State of the Economy and Labour’s Response
The advanced economies, including Canada, risk falling back into recession because of government spending cuts and a looming financial crisis. The Canadian Labour Congress has been calling for our federal…
The G20 and Jobs
The meeting of G20 Labour Ministers in Paris on September 26-27, held in advance of the November G20 Summit in Cannes, reached some conclusions which go some (extremely modest) way…
William Watson on PSE
On Wednesday, William Watson wrote a comment piece in the Financial Post in which he was critical of Armine Yalnizyan’s recent essay on inequality that appeared the National Post. In…
Is There a Student Debt Bubble?
A recent article in The Atlantic looks at student debt in the United States and suggests there may be a student debt bubble. Written by the authors of the recent…
Today’s Job Numbers
Analysis from my colleague Sylvain Schetagne: A decreasing unemployment rate is not always a sign of a strong labour market. The decrease in the unemployment rate from 7.4% to 7.2%…
Use University Research to Increase Manufacturing Jobs
Manufacturing jobs have been declinining as a percentage of total jobs in most OECD countries for several decades, with Ontario being especially hard-hit as a jurisdiction. At the end of…
Incomes and the Recession
Today’s Statscan release “Incomes of Canadians” provides data for 2009 and a partial reading on the impacts of the recession. (I say partial because the 2008 annual average data were…
Air Canada Bargaining and the Fight for Middle Class Jobs
CAW members at Air Canada are coming down to the wire in their bargaining with the company, with a strike deadline set for this Monday at midnight. It’s really the…
The Case Against Wage Insurance
At the CEA meetings I participated on a panel organized by IRPP to discuss a recent paper – by Finnie and Gray - on older laid-off workers and the policy…
Stephen Harper’s Economic Record: Best in show?
According to the polls, Stephen Harper gets the highest score on handling the economy, though he only gets the nod from 38 per cent of Canadians. As the incumbent, he’s…
How to Help the Long Term Unemployed
The OECD have weighed in on what policy measures are needed to limit the damage of long term unemployment in the aftermath of the Great Recession. I would judge the…
Good Jobs For All
The policy paper to be presented to the CLC Convention next month is now posted on our web site and is well worth reading. http://www.canadianlabour.ca/sites/default/files/pdfs/policypapergoodjosen.pdf