On behalf of the 3.3 million members of the Canadian Labour Congress, we want to thank you for the opportunity to present our views. The CLC brings together workers from virtually all sectors of the Canadian economy in all occupations and in all parts of Canada.
Leading economists, including bank economists, say that Canada's economic growth prospects remain weak due to insufficient business investment, high household debt, and weak global growth. Leading economists also fail to see any sign of labour shortages emerging. Some even suggest we should welcome the eventual tightening of the labour markets that will come when boomers retire.
Business investments are not where they should be. The across-the-board corporate tax cuts did not deliver the promised investments in real assets, such as new factories, or in workers' training. Thus these cuts failed to boost economic growth and productivity and did not help to create more and better jobs.
The overall labour force participation rate and the employment rate have not recovered to their pre-recession levels. Employment growth has been shallower than labour force growth, and the labour force participation rate is at its lowest level in 10 years. The participation and employment rates for 20- to 35-year-olds is markedly lower than pre-recession, indicating there's a difficulty for young workers to break into the labour market. On the other hand, employment rates have increased throughout the recession and recovery for people over 55.
Programs targeted at helping young workers get experience in the job market and information that helps them choose training for in-demand careers are both critical components of addressing this pressing issue. Second chance retraining opportunities for older workers affected by structural shifts in the economy are also important.
We're concerned about the rise in precarious labour, part of a much longer-term trend. For example, two million workers are employed in temporary jobs in Canada right now, which is about 13.5% of all employees, up from about 12% just before the recession.
Underemployment is also an issue that we're looking at closely. For the year between November 2012 and October 2013, an average of 1.35 million workers were unemployed. Some 900,000 workers worked part-time but wanted full-time work. That represents 27% of all part-time workers. Some 472,000 people were not in the labour force, but indicated to Statistics Canada that they did want work. These are marginally attached workers and they're an indication of how many people may be looking to enter the labour market should labour market prospects improve. Statistics Canada tells us that there are 6.4 unemployed persons per job vacancy in Canada, but that number doubles when we consider these marginally attached and underemployed workers.
The proportion of unemployed workers who remain unemployed for long stretches is also higher than pre-recession, with 20% of unemployed workers having been unemployed for more than 27 weeks, and 7% unemployed for more than a year. This is compared to pre-recession levels of 13% and 4%. All of this is to say that the labour market is weaker than the headline unemployment rate of 6.9% would indicate.
A recent TD Economics report by Derek Burleton and his colleagues found there are no wage pressures in high-demand occupations. In Saskatchewan, wages for in-demand occupations are actually growing at a slower rate than the provincial average. This evidence supports the position that before the government intervenes in labour markets, either to provide easy access to migrant works or to subsidize employer training costs, you ensure employers have “more skin in the game”, as employment Minister Jason Kenney aptly expressed. To properly assess the presence of actual labour shortages, we need better labour market information.
The CLC urges the government to take seriously the need for timely, reliable, and detailed labour market information as part of a broader investment in improving Canada's labour market productivity.
Is the time up?