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budget must stress good jobs |
January 8th 2010 | Source: Canadian Labour Congress |
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Georgetti
says unemployment, low wages hurting younger workers
OTTAWA – When the federal government introduces a new budget in
March, it must make the creation of good jobs a priority, says
Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian Labour Congress.
Georgetti was commenting on the release by Statistics Canada of
labour force figures for December 2009. The unemployment rate
remains at 8.5% and 1.57 million Canadian men and women are out
of work.“Workers have had a dismal year and we’re not out of the
woods yet,” he says.
Georgetti says that both the number and quality of jobs
available are big issues for workers. “The income of most
Canadian workers has dropped in the past decade, even while
corporate executives saw their pay outpace inflation by 70%. Too
many other Canadians are surviving on poorly paid and part-time
jobs. The middle class is taking a beating and we have to turn
that around.”
Georgetti says that younger workers have been especially hard
hit. Youth unemployment remains at 16.1%. “The United Nations
has declared 2010 as the International Year of Youth, but in
Canada we are failing those young people. The federal government
has to do something to help out here and they can begin with the
budget in March.”
Quick Analysis from CLC Senior Economist Sylvain Schetagne
Those who began to celebrate signs of a fast recovery of the
labour market last month may be feeling a kind of hangover
today. No jobs were created in December 2009. The level of
employment was down by 2,600 between November and December. The
number of employees declined by 17,800 while the number of
self-employed workers, a less secure form of employment,
increased by 15,200 during the same period. In December 2009,
employment was down significantly for women in the 25 to 54 age
group (-23,900), in the public sector overall (-22,100), and in
public administration (-21,600). The number of unemployed is at
1,567,800, which is 36.5% higher than it was in October 2008.
Since that month, 341,900 full-time jobs have been lost by
working Canadians. Half of these lay-offs occurred for those in
the 15 to 24 age group. They lost 170,400 out of the 341,900
full-time jobs lost since October 2008. The unemployment rate
among 15 to 24 year-olds went from 12.2% to 16.1% between
October 2008 and December 2009, leaving 458,400 Canadians aged
15-24 unemployed last month.
The Canadian Labour Congress, the national voice of the labour
movement, represents 3.2 million Canadian workers. The CLC
brings together Canada’s national and international unions along
with the provincial and territorial federations of labour and
130 district labour councils. Web site:
www.canadianlabour.ca
