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On Wed, 2 Feb 2000, Victor Milne wrote:
> Could someone on the
list (maybe Ed Weick?) tell me the basis for the official unemployment stats?
Are they just the number of people collecting EI benefits calculated as a
percentage of the total work force, or do they use some other method of
determining the number of people "actively seeking work"?
>
>
And Tom Walker replied:
>Unemployment stats are based on a survey of a sample of
the
>population. The "unemployed" are those who are currently not working
and
>who are actively seeking work. It does not include discouraged
workers who
>have given up looking for work or underemployed workers who
are
>working part-time because they are unable to find full-time
work.
The problem with unemployment stats is that they simply state a fact: on
the basis of a sample, X% of the labour force is unemployed at a particular
time. They give no indication of the uncertainty and vulnerability that
exists in the labour market. An interesting approach to trying to capture
this can be found on the Ryerson Polytechnic University web page at:
What follows is part of the summary of the Ryerson study. The study
as a whole can be downloaded.
Ed Weick
The Job-Poor Recovery: Social Cohesion and the Canadian
Labour Market
Mike Burke and John Shields
Senior Researchers,
Ryerson Social Reporting Network
Ryerson Polytechnic
University
Summary
Highlights
Recent developments in the job market reveal a disturbing pattern
characterized by job-poor growth. The kinds of jobs being created are
undermining the foundation for middle class life in Canadian society. The middle
is being hollowed out and an hour glass labour market created. This hour glass
labour market is featured by a segment of the workforce enjoying an important
measure of employment security and sufficiency of market-based incomes versus a
larger and growing element of the labour force facing insufficiencies in
employment security and/or labour market earnings.
The source of the growing gap in the Canadian labour market is the
deteriorating quality of employment. The Canadian labour market has undergone
profound restructuring over the last three decades. Influenced by the forces of
globalization, rapid technological change and a radically altered public policy
environment, contemporary employment patterns have been restructured away from
full-time tenured forms of work in an economy featured by rising living
standards and increased expectations, towards flexible forms of employment in a
just-in-time economy marked by growing levels of employment contingency,
economic polarization and social exclusion. Labour market polarization is
jeopardizing the prospects for a secure foundation for family life in Canada.
This study offers a unique contribution to understanding the dynamics of
Canadian labour market change. Especially noteworthy are the following
observations drawn from the analysis based on the Ryerson Social Reporting
Network new labour market indices:
- over 52 percent of Canadian workers earn less than $15 per hour;
- more than 37 percent of working single mothers earn less than $10 per hour
compared to 26 per cent for all employees — that constitutes an annual salary
of only $18,200 based on a yearly 35 hour work week;
- 3.2 million Canadians (about one-fifth of the labour force) are
structurally excluded form the labour market in that they are either
unemployed or significantly underemployed;
- some 45 percent of adult employees between the ages of 25-59 are employed
in flexible forms of work (less than full-time tenured workers). This
represents a highly polarized employment pattern;
- flexible forms of employment (part-time, contract, full-time non-tenured)
are on average between $5 to $8 per hour more poorly compensated than
full-time workers with tenure;
- flexible workers lack job ladders and have few opportunities to increase
their real income earning capacity over time;
- 53 percent of the adult workforce or 6.7 million individuals are in
vulnerable employment situations because they lack employment stability and/or
market income sufficiency;
- single mothers, and more generally women, are significantly over
represented among flexible workers and the vulnerably employed;
- while higher levels of education are positively related to a better
individual positioning in the job market, overall the education effect
represents only a minor influence. Gender, single mother status and age are
more influential in determining the quality of employment one holds;
- trade union membership and public sector employment protect workers from
the worst inequality found in flexible and vulnerable forms of work.
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