Labour Underutilization RateStatcan writes, "The labour underutilization rate, which captures the full range of people who are available and want to work rose 2.3 percentage points to 17 per cent in April." Statcan defines the "labour underutilization rate" as a percentage of the sum of workers who were unemployed and looked for a job during the month plus those not in the labour force but who wanted a job but did not look for one plus those who were employed but worked less than half of their usual hours compared with the total number of Canadians aged 15 and older. With this stream of words one could easily doze off sighing, "Yada, yada, blah, blah zzzzzz." Why in the world should Canadians accept any "labour underutilization" when that directly means less value produced and available to solve social and other problems and meet the needs of the people and society, in particular at this time to tackle the health emergency? Statcan continues, "All components of the labour underutilization rate remained higher than in February 2020, and included people who were employed but worked less than half of their usual hours (+534,000; +65.9%); job searchers (+391,000; +37.6%); those on temporary layoff or with arrangements to start a job in the near future (+103,000 +98.1%); and those who wanted a job but did not look for one (+153,000; +38.5%)." The number of Canadians working from home who worked at least half of their usual hours grew by 100,000 to 5.1 million. This number includes 3.1 million who usually work at locations other than their home. In April alone, employment among youth aged 15 to 24 fell by 101,000 (-4.2%), with losses concentrated in Ontario and British Columbia. Employment among people aged 25 to 54 fell 48,000 (-0.4%), with the decline primarily in full-time work for women. Employment among people aged 55 and older fell 58,000 (-1.4%), with losses primarily in full-time work (-45,000; -1.4%). The fall in employment since the beginning of the pandemic in February 2020 has been 503,000 jobs. Statcan writes, "Hours worked among the self-employed fell 5.6 per cent in April 2021 and were 12.8 per cent lower than in February 2020. Proportionally, self-employment remained further from pre-pandemic levels than both private sector and public sector employment, down 5.1 per cent (-147,000) compared with February 2020. "Recent data on business openings and closures reveal that, as of January 2021, there were 20,000 fewer active businesses in Canada compared with a year earlier." (Labour Force Survey April, 2021 available here: The Daily -- Labour Force Survey, April 2021)
This article was published in Article Link:   Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca |
