After a year marked by reports of mass layoffs and sector contraction, Canada’s labour force is in need of a change, a brand new report says.
‘I’m done’: Alberta’s laid-off oil workers forced to abandon industry in worst downturn they’ve ever seen
For 36 years, Sue Jones rode the ups and downs of Alberta’s oilpatch. But after she was laid off last March, she knew her days within the gas and oil industry were over.
Continue reading.
C.D. Howe Institute, the Toronto-based think-tank, notes that the country is facing a greater number of displaced workers because of the recent commodity price shock and the ongoing shift from lower-skilled to higher-skilled work.
Policy changes, as a result, are needed to make sure Canada’s labour pool can adjust to the changing rapidly environment.
“One of the challenges facing Canada’s economy in 2016, tackling vulnerabilities in labour markets will be necessary to the prosperity of Canadians,” said Craig Alexander, vice-president of monetary analysis at C.D. Howe Institute. “The country’s labour financial markets are being transformed by structural forces of globalization, technical change and aging demographics, while being buffeted by cyclical factors like the recurring boom-bust in commodity prices.”
Canada saw a wave of layoffs in the energy sector last year following a crash in oil prices. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said last month it is likely the oil and gas sector lost 100,000 direct and indirect jobs this past year.
Statistics Canada noted earlier this month that while the economy added 158,100 net new jobs last year, there was a definite sectoral shift, with natural resource jobs declining and manufacturing jobs increasing.
The wave of resource sector layoffs coincides with a longer-term trend that is seeing the labour market shift from lower- and medium-skilled jobs to higher-skilled jobs, says Alexander, who was previously the chief economist for Toronto-Dominion Bank. A variety of forces are influencing that shift, including globalization, technical change and aging demographics.
Alexander said policy change and much more worker support is needed to make sure Canada’s labour force can adapt to the alterations.
Among the advice he makes are reform to employment insurance.
Related
- Alberta lost probably the most jobs in 2015 since 1980s recession: Statistics CanadaOilpatch braces for ‘ugly’ results with more cuts likely to dividends, jobs and spending
-
-
-
“Different rules for use of, and the amount of, EI benefits are inappropriate,” he explained. “For example, the recent plunge in oil prices has resulted in rising unemployment in Alberta (traditionally a minimal unemployment region), with the result that most Albertans need 700 hours of labor to be eligible for a EI in sharp contrast towards the 420 hours of labor necessary for most Atlantic Canadians.”
He goes on to recommend that the regionally separate criteria should instead be replaced with a “uniform, countrywide” employment insurance program.
Alexander also takes aim at labour data, saying that although there is a lot of it obtainable in Canada, you will find issues with awareness, costs and if the data are released in a manner that is easy to make use of by businesses and analysts.
“There is scope for the authorities to visualize greater responsibility for this file, strengthening the capability of Statistics Canada’s and Employment and Social Development Canada to do more,” he said.
He goes on to add that Canada also has room for “upskilling” – training more workers in new skills and roles to adapt to the current workforce. Efforts ought to be made to target “pockets of vulnerability,” including older workers, immigrants, Aboriginals and First Nations people.
Canada must also concentrate on making sure students are pursuing more degrees in science, technology, engineering and math, said Alexander, noting that lots of high-paying jobs are now found in these fields.
“A complex issue is whether youths have the skills that companies are looking for. For example, it appears that a lot of students are pursuing degrees that have low employment rates, and not enough are pursuing degrees in programs rich in employment rates,” said Alexander. “This is partly driving the trend in young university degree holders taking positions for which they are considered ‘overqualified.’ “
