Canada's unemployment rate is at it's lowest point in recorded history.

how does Canada count the unemployed?
Here in the states it is not accurate as they only count those collecting unemployment ..........anyone who ran out of time for benefits or did not collect in between jobs or did not have enough time to build the credits they use to calculate unemployment are simply NOT counted as unemployed.
Not sure how they could count more accurately...... many quit jobs and do not qualify for unemployment... but it would be a more accurate picture.

Some companies are very good at getting rid of employees that way..... make the schedule or working time so difficult the employee leaves on their own .....
 
First, Canada has a national unemployment benefit program, that applies in all parts of the country, so numbers are collected nationally. Statistics Canada uses a number of methods to judge how the employment situation is going, such as how many " jobs to be filled " ads are being posted, and calls to major employers about their hiring numbers. They also conduct random interviews of those who are visiting job bank offices across the country, looking for work. A further indicator is if a company is having difficulty filling good paying jobs , because the number of applicants is lower than in the past. To me that indicates that the pool of applicants is lower due to increased employment in general. JimB.
 

We have a tremendous skilled worker shortage here in the U.S. It gets me when I see some 20-something out panhandling. I mean... get some skills and get a job. Are they just too lazy or too stupid? Or perhaps they have some disability. Who knows. Maybe I shouldn't judge.
 
SeniorBen said:
We have a tremendous skilled worker shortage here in the U.S. It gets me when I see some 20-something out panhandling. I mean... get some skills and get a job. Are they just too lazy or too stupid? Or perhaps they have some disability. Who knows. Maybe I shouldn't judge.
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I expect mental illness and/or drug addiction may have a lot to do with the panhandler/tent city people.
 
SeniorBen said:
We have a tremendous skilled worker shortage here in the U.S. It gets me when I see some 20-something out panhandling. I mean... get some skills and get a job. Are they just too lazy or too stupid? Or perhaps they have some disability. Who knows. Maybe I shouldn't judge.
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Right you are seniorBen. We got the same "deal" here in Canuck country. It seems that nearly on every corner where there is a stop light, some 20 year old is holding out a cardboard sign expecting free money. There are help wanted signs all over the city.

I really don't trust the media when they publish some sort of rate. Recently, we are being told that the inflation rate is somewhere around 5 - 6%. Ha! A lot of things are going up 100% or more. They claim there is some sort of supply problem. Ha! Our dealers here have their parking lots full of cars and trucks and the grocery stores are full of groceries. The middleman out there is laughing his head off telling us that "Covid" did it. My advice is "hold on to your wallets" and trust no one in the media.
 
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The "official" unemployment rate in the U.S. has hit 3.8% in recent days. However, I doubt that that number really reflects the number of people who have just quit looking for work, etc. Most of the available jobs seem to be 'entry level" that barely pay minimum wage.
 
I have been reading that 20,000 additional pilots will be needed by the end of this decade. Right now, the airline industry is down between 8-12,000 pilots, depending on what magazine you read.
 
Yes, here in the U.S. the "unemployment rate" is based on those filing claims to collect benefits. It does not reflect those not working who cannot/do not file. Almost impossible for someone to live on a minimum wage job. Can't pay rent, buy groceries, pay for child care on $7.25/hour. And, many of those minimum wage jobs see employers only working staff 35 hours so they don't have to pay benefits.

So much of this could be fixed if we had no cost, or low cost, vocational training upon graduation from high school. Go to 2 more years of school and get licensed/certified in a health care field, construction trade, etc. and you could find work at a living wage... immediately. There just does not seem to be a movement to push these kids in that direction.
 
Patch said:
So much of this could be fixed if we had no cost, or low cost, vocational training upon graduation from high school. Go to 2 more years of school and get licensed/certified in a health care field, construction trade, etc. and you could find work at a living wage... immediately. There just does not seem to be a movement to push these kids in that direction.
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Absolutely! The "myth" that a college degree is needed for every good job leaves thousands of students with little to show for their degree other than years of paying student loan debt. There are high paying Blue collar jobs going unfilled all over the country. The recent Walmart announcement of paying over $100K/yr. for truck drivers, is a fine example.
If a person isn't afraid to "get their hands dirty", they can attend a 2 yr. community college, and learn a trade that will quickly give them a nice lifetime income.
 
There seems to be a stigma associated with blue-collar work that wasn't there a few decades ago. People just don't seem to want to learn a trade any more. This Old House (anybody else watch that?) had a program to teach people carpentry, electrician skills, maybe HVAC, but they were having trouble getting anybody interested, and many of the people who went through the program decided they would rather get into management and tell other people what to do than do the actual work.

Perhaps young people just don't like physical work unless it takes place in a gym. Personally, I get some satisfaction from makings something out of nothing, and that usually involves physical work.

I used to love working hard. Of course, I had a lot more energy back then. I moved into a new house today and that wasn't my idea of fun, but I kept up with the guys I hired to help. They were probably in their mid-20s. I had 40 years on them. I don't remember my back cracking when I'd stand up when I was their age, though. Ouch. Of course, moves when I was in my 20s were fueled by beer and pizza.
 
Governments fudge figures and the media enable them.
Here in Australia if someone works just 1 hour a week they are deemed to be fully employed and are not included in the "unemployed" figures
 
Bretrick said:
Governments fudge figures and the media enable them.
Here in Australia if someone works just 1 hour a week they are deemed to be fully employed and are not included in the "unemployed" figures
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I would love to see a actual Government website in Australia, that backs up your claim. JimB.
 
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