I’m not surprised some who have either read my blog or viewed my videos on my GoFundMe initiative would write that things are getting better, since economists reported Canada’s economy has stopped shrinking.
These people really need to read the business section of the news more.
Canada lost 35,700 jobs in November: apparently the public sector hiring for the previous month of October, 2015 was a temporary boost from the last federal election.
Alberta, which was supposed to be the golden child of the post-2009 recession recovery — where jobs were plentiful and oil prices were seen as the economic counterbalance to Ontario’s “have-not status” — now has an unemployment rate at a five-year high. Saskatchewan and British Columbia, provinces employment assistance specialists and some of my readership tell me to move to in order to find work, are also experiencing an increase in unemployment. Ontario’s unemployment rate is still stubbornly high at 6.8%. Thank you, Premier Wynne and the Liberal Party for that. Your government policies that hiked the cost of electricity in this province are the reason why businesses do not want to invest here and hire people.
Examining the charts and numbers more closely, the actual growth in our economy was a measly 2.3%. For a country the size of Canada, that’s peanuts. The supposed bright spot of 36,000 full-time workers being hired is not in long-term sustainable jobs but retail and service sector jobs: jobs that do not guarantee career growth and the income increases that comes with it.
According to StatsCan, “in November, the number of employees declined by 41,000 in the private sector, and by 21,000 in the public sector. On the other hand, the number of self-employed increased by 26,000”. That’s not reassuring news for those people who do not have the business smarts and the capital to go it alone (such as Yours Truly).
The most alarming aspect of the news is when you compare the current national unemployment rate of November 2015 (7.1%) with the unemployment rate back at the end of 2010 (8.1%). Despite all the talk about economic recovery and jobs being created, the unemployment rate fell (in net) only one percentage point over the past five years. This is the end result of all that money spent on employment assistance and stimulus programs. Perhaps it is time to review a proposal suggested by many (which I wrote about) about guaranteed income.
The numbers don’t lie. It’s proof we live in an Age of Austerity and the jobless recovery.
Thanks for reading!
David
davidalangay 
My parents home country, Finland, is considering a guaranteed income for all. https://reason.com/blog/2015/12/07/finland-to-test-basic-income-guarantee
This is a good proposal. It streamlines and reduces the cost of maintaining a national social insurance plan and ensures everyone will have a roof over their heads and food on the table. It also provides a platform that puts the onus on each of us to better our social standing.
The current system Canada has is not only expensive, it’s a bloated ineffective industry that exists on the misery of the impoverished and out-of-work.