Canadian Jobs Created by Infrastructure Investments

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - April 7, 2011) - Those who claim that the Canadian job market has recovered to pre-recession conditions have not done their homework, says Ken Georgetti, President of the Canadian Labour Congress.

Georgetti was commenting on the release by the CLC's research department of a publication called Recession Watch Bulletin. The number of full time jobs has fallen by 101,600 since 2008, while the number of part-time workers has increased by 156,100. "We are not back to where we were before the recession struck in October 2008," Georgetti says. "Most people want full-time and permanent work but they are stuck in part-time and poorly paid jobs."

The Bulletin indicates that since 2008 the size of the labour force has grown more quickly than job creation. The unemployment rate was 6.2% in October 2008 but was 7.8% in February 2011. The government's budget documents predict that the rate will remain at or above 7.0% until 2014. The Recession Watch Bulletin is available at www.canadianlabour.ca

Georgetti says that most of the jobs created since the recession bottomed out in July 2009 resulted from the government's infrastructure investments. "The jobs were concentrated in construction, in professional services such as architecture and engineering to support that construction, and in health care." 

He adds that he is worried about what will happen now. "Ottawa wants to shut down its spending on infrastructure and there is real concern about what the government will be prepared to invest in health care when the accord with the provinces and territories expires in 2014." 

Georgetti continues to call for long term investments in public infrastructure, as well as improved public services such as child and elder care. "These investments will create many more jobs for each dollar spent than corporate tax cuts." 

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.