Stephen Harper, Jobs Killer

Stephen Harper, Jobs Killer

Postby Oscar » Wed Jun 10, 2015 10:05 am

Stephen Harper, Jobs Killer

[ http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2015/06/10/Jo ... ign=100615 ]

When Tories brag about 'their' economy, pull up these grim unemployment facts. Third in a series.

By Mel Hurtig, June 10, 2015 TheTyee.ca

[Editor's note: This is the third of five excerpts this week from The Arrogant Autocrat: Stephen Harper's Takeover of Canada by noted Canadian nationalist Mel Hurtig. For an interview with Hurtig about his just published book, click here: [ http://thetyee.ca/Culture/2015/06/08/Ar ... en-Harper/ ]

To find the whole series, click here: [ http://thetyee.ca/Series/2015/06/08/Mel-Hurtig-Book/ ]


In the next election, the Harper Conservatives will boast about their role in helping Canada weather the 2008–11 recession, but bear in mind that the strong regulatory framework that helped our financial and banking institutions maintain stability was not the work of this government, but rather the result of many decades of strong fiscal governance by others.

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Lagging behind 19 nations

Canada's unemployment rate is higher than it was before the 2008–11 recession. The Canadian Labour Congress pegged the unemployment rate well above the official figure of seven per cent, to 10.8 per cent, if involuntary part-time workers and discouraged job seekers were included.

At the end of 2014, the participation rate in Canada's labour market hit a 13-year low at 66 per cent, more than a percentage point below 2008 levels.

In terms of our employment rates, 11 OECD countries have a higher proportion of persons of working age in employment, and Canada has one of the highest rates of part-time employment in the OECD.

With respect to hours spent in paid employment on a per capita basis, 16 OECD countries have higher numbers than we do.

Regarding unemployment figures, 19 OECD countries have lower rates of unemployment in a recent three year average.

We lag at 14th position in terms of annual growth in compensation per hours worked. All of these countries have seen higher growth in wage rates: Estonia, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Mexico, Korea, Norway, the Czech Republic, Australia, Poland, Great Britain, Luxembourg and Denmark.

Conservatives like to argue that the best job creator is a growing economy. But as Saskatchewan MP Ralph Goodale notes, the Harper government's growth record is the worst since the early 1930s under then prime minister R.B. Bennett.

Goodale says of Harper, "In 2006, he was handed a steadily growing economy which had generated 3.5 million net new jobs, declining debt and taxes, a decade of balanced budgets, annual surpluses at about $13-billion.... That's what Mr. Harper had to work with -- the most robust fiscal situation in the western world. And he blew it in less than three years."

Just how badly did Harper blow it? Sadly, beyond the jobs figures presented here, there are many more measures of the damage done. I will tally them in tomorrow's piece.
Oscar
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Re: Stephen Harper, Jobs Killer

Postby Oscar » Fri Jul 10, 2015 8:12 am

Canada December job losses deeper after revisions
[ http://www.marketwatch.com/story/canada ... 8-84853831 ]
By Nirmala Menon Published: Jan 28, 2015 8:38 a.m. ET
OTTAWA--Canadian job losses in December were roughly three times more than originally estimated and the unemployment rate was also higher than previously reported, according to revised data released by Statistics Canada Wednesday.
The economy shed 11,300 net jobs last month instead of the 4,300 decline that the statistical agency reported earlier in January. The jobless rate was 6.7% rather than the initially estimated 6.6%.
Job creation for all of 2014 totaled 121,300, the least since losses incurred during the recession in 2009. [ . . . ]

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Insolvencies—Rising Again
[ http://research.cibcwm.com/economic_pub ... 150519.pdf ]
May 15, 2015
The insolvency rate in Canada is back to its pre-recession level of 4 in 1,000 adults (Chart 1). But recent activity reveals a reversal of that trend. During the six months ending February, the cumulative number of insolvencies rose by 1.2%—the first increase since the recession. [ . . . ]

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Canada's economy shrank 0.1% in April, Statistics Canada says
[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/canada- ... -1.3133017 ]
CBC News Posted: Jun 30, 2015 8:58 AM ET| Last Updated: Jun 30, 2015 9:50 AM ET
Canada's economy shrank by 0.1 per cent in April as a large drop-off in the value of domestically made goods wasn't offset by a slight increase in output from the service sector.
Statistics Canada said Tuesday that the economy has contracted every month this year.
The goods-producing sector contracted by 0.8 per cent. The service sector, meanwhile, expanded by 0.3 per cent.
Oil and gas extraction fell by 3.4 per cent, the data agency said. Mining and quarrying was down by the same amount. [ . . . ]

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Recession fears all too real for Canadians struggling to cope
[ http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/recessi ... -1.3145118 ]
Underemployment, debt can make it difficult to get by, despite a good education
By Sophia Harris, CBC News Posted: Jul 10, 2015 5:00 AM ET| Last Updated: Jul 10, 2015 5:00 AM ET
EXCERPT:
There are other signs that Canadians are struggling.
According to a recent CIBC report, the number of people no longer able to pay down their debt is on the rise for the first time since the 2008 recession. The total number of insolvencies rose by 1.2 per cent in the six months ending in February. [ . . . ]
Oscar
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