Both the quantity and quality of jobs are falling in Canada, according to a CIBC Economics report released this morning.
The Canadian Employment Quality Index by Benjamin Tal indicated that the pace of job creation in Canada was slower than any other non-recessionary period in the past.
The sharp decline in the job market in the second half of 2011 made the past year a highly asymmetrical one in terms of job creation, with the first six months accounting for almost all the jobs created during the year.
And according to a Statistics Canada report released Tuesday, based on new survey data, there were 3.3 unemployed Canadians for every job vacancy in the quarter ending in September 2011.
Canadian businesses had, on average, 248,000 job vacancies in that period, but there were an average of 3.3 unemployed Canadians for each of those jobs (818,400 people). In B.C., there were 4.4 people for every job vacancy.
The impact of a slower pace of job creation was exacerbated by a reduction in job quality in the Canadian labour market, according to CIBC’s index of employment quality.
The index focuses on three measures: part- and full-time distribution, the composition of paid employment and self-employment, and the relative compensation of a given full-time paid employment job.
The CIBC report noted that while job quality was well above the level seen during the recession, it was down by more than one percentage point over the past year.
By province, the largest drop was observed in Ontario, followed by B.C., with declines in job quality at almost 2%.
With both quantity and quality of employment falling in tandem, real disposable income was unchanged in the first three quarters of 2011 – the worst showing in 15 years.
“Looking ahead, the likelihood is that employment quality in the coming few quarters will remain subdued, “ said Tal.
Jennifer Harrison
@JHarrisonBIV