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The Conservative economic record: 665,000 missing jobs

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May 9, 2014 by PressProgress

Employers eliminated 30,900 full-time jobs last month and 25,600 Canadians left the labour force altogether, Statistics Canada job numbers released Friday show.

With an increase of just 2,000 part-time jobs for a net loss of 28,900 jobs, Erin Weir, an economist with United Steelworkers, puts the bad news in context.

“This large decline in employment coincided with an increase of 41,000 in Canada’s working-age population. The employment rate, the proportion of working-age Canadians who are employed or self-employed, fell to 61.5% – its lowest level since March 2010,” Weir said in a statement.

In other words, if the employment rate was back at its pre-recession peak (63.8%), Canada would have 665,000 more jobs today. “Damage of recession has not been repaired,” tweeted Jim Stanford, an economist with Unifor. 

Instead, Canada’s employment rate of 61.5% is now only 0.2 points above July 2009, the trough of the recession. “Employment rate has been steadily eroding since late 2012. Cda’s recovery has no engine, no momentum – thanks, austerity,” added Stanford.

Meanwhile, Douglas Porter, chief economist with the Bank of Montreal, told the Canadian Press that “there’s no question this was a bit of a disappointment. It continues a trend we’ve seen over the last six months of down then up, and up then down. So we’re seeing a see-saw action in Canadian employment.”

Here’s what that looks like, courtesy of Unifor:

Job number - May 2014

It ain’t easy to spin dismal job numbers

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The Conservative government relied on a familiar refrain to try to spin its way out of Friday’s awful jobs report released by Statistics Canada.

First, the facts:
  • Over the past year, “one full-time job was added for every four part-time jobs.”
Second, the analysis from Bay Street:
  • “Scotiabank note calls jobs numbers a shocker, weakest job growth by far since the recession.”
  • “Disappointment across the board,” said Mark Chandler, head of fixed income and currency strategy at RBC Capital Markets.
  • “That full-time employment growth is nearly flat in the past year while part-time job growth is up 2.5 per cent ‘indicates that businesses are not eager to expand payrolls,'” said Arlene Kish, senior principal economist at IHS Global Insight.
Third, a recap of past Conservative spin:

Whenever faced with bad economic news, the Conservatives claim that Canada leads the G-7 in jobs and economic growth since the recession. They make this misleading statement by using selective statistics.

When population growth and purchasing power are taken into account to get the complete picture, Canada falls behind G-7 countries Germany, Japan and the United States. That’s fourth place (out of 7!).

Fouth, the go-to spin:

Watch Industry Minister James Moore try to spin the bad news using the “Yah, but we’re still #1” discredited stat.

Shhh! Don’t utter the word "strike"

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Dec 5, 2013 by PressProgress

Has the Progressive Conservative government in Alberta outdone the federal Conservatives when it comes to the rights of workers?

New labour laws in Alberta don’t just strip the right of members of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees to arbitration. Going forward, provincial employees also “won’t even be able to talk about a strike or a disruptive labour action that could be seen as leading to a strike.

“If there’s a hint of a work stoppage, just a puff of smoke from a shop floor, the union will have to forfeit $1 million a day, unless it can convince the court it didn’t encourage the strike talk from locals or random militants,” explains Calgary Herald columnist Don Braid.

Braid is talking about what he characterises as an “exceptionally vague ban on ‘an act or threat to act that could reasonably be perceived as preparation for an employees’ right.'”

Don’t be surprised if this provision makes its way to the Supreme Court of Canada, though. “It’s hard to imagine a more blatant violation of free speech,” Baird writes.

Just down from the street from the top court in Ottawa, the Conservatives are poised on Friday to pass a giant omnibus budget implementation bill that also takes a whack at workers’ rights.

The Conservative government stuffed the 322-page bill with amendments to 50 separate laws, most of which have nothing to do with budget implementation.

They include 60 amendments to the Canada Labour Code, including a watered down definition of danger to make it harder for workers to refuse dangerous work, and new rules to appeal the definition.

Twenty-three amendments to the Public Service Labour Relations Act are also in the bill, including deleting the existing definition of “essential” and replace it with one described as anything that the government in its “exclusive right” determines is or will be necessary for the safety or security of the public.

Photo: movetheclouds. Used under a Creative Commons BY 2.0 licence.