Unemployment figures for August reveal a continuation of the chronic high
levels of unemployment which is one of the features of the deepening crisis
of the capitalist system, referred to as the "jobless recovery."
The official unemployment rate in August remained 9 percent for the
second consecutive month. According to figures released by Statistics
Canada September 5, employment grew overall by 55,000 in August. The report
does not indicate how many jobs were destroyed during the same period. It
does, however, note that the return of 59,000 people to the labour force
cancels out the 55,000 new jobs. What this reveals is the extent to which
the "official unemployment" rate hides the actual number of unemployed.
Hundreds of thousands of people without jobs are not included because they
are not "officially looking for work".
Over 50 percent of the 55,000 jobs created in August were part-time,
and StatsCan reports that the rate of growth of part-time jobs since
February has been twice that of full-time employment. At the same time, the
jobs lost during the same period were three times more likely to be
full-time. As a result, the proportion of workers with part-time hours has
increased to 19.4 per cent of the workforce. Human Resources Development
Canada estimates that over 65 percent of part-time workers would take
full-time jobs if they could find any.
CPC(M-L), 9/97
Shawgi Tell
Graduate School of Education
University at Buffalo
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
