New Government Must Assist in Creating Good Jobs: CLC President Comments on Job Numbers for April

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - May 6, 2011) - When Parliament resumes, the new government must address continuing high unemployment in Canada by assisting in the creation of good, family-supporting jobs, says Ken Georgetti, President of the Canadian Labour Congress.

Georgetti was commenting on the release by Statistics Canada of its Labour Force Survey for April 2011. There were 1,424,100 unemployed Canadians in March, well above the 1,138,400 who were unemployed in October 2008, just prior to the recession. The unemployment rate for April 2011 remained at 7.6%. It was 6.1% in October 2008.

"We are calling on all political parties to roll up their sleeves and get to work to create good, family-supporting jobs for the more than 1.4 million Canadians who are unemployed, and for many thousands of others whose work is part-time, temporary and poorly paid," Georgetti says.

About 2,500 trade unionists will gather in Vancouver between May 9 and 13 for the CLC's 26th constitutional convention. Delegates will debate resolutions regarding an agenda for good jobs in a new economy. Georgetti says, "Our focus is on improving the economic security of Canadians and good jobs are central to that objective."

Quick Analysis from CLC Senior Economist Sylvain Schetagne

Canadians need more good family supporting full-time and permanent jobs, not more part-time work. In April, employment in Canada was up by 58,300 and the unemployment rate was down by 0.1%, now sitting at 7.6%. Both the employment rate (the proportion of the population employed) and the participation rate (the proportion of the population employed or looking for work) were up, which are good signs.

But in April 2011, 41,100 of the 58,300 new jobs created were part-time. The proportion of Canadians working part-time was 19.3%, up from 19.1% in the previous month. Since October 2008, before the job crisis began, part-time work has increased by 105,000 while full-time work has remained basically the same (+6,200).

In April, part-time work was up for both men 25 year and older (+21,000) and for young workers aged 15 to 24 years old (17,000).

The jobs created last month were concentrated in Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador and in the service industry (+69,600), while jobs in goods-producing sectors decreased (-11,300). Employment was down in both construction and manufacturing.

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. Web site: www.canadianlabour.ca.