Beware of End of Year Job Numbers

Today, Canada’s federal government released the latest unemployment rates for the country – painting a rosy picture if you believe ‘em.

According to Statistics Canada, the country’s unemployment rate dropped last month by a tenth of a point since October. Canada’s official unemployment rate now stands at 8.5 percent.

The government claims this is because the number of full-time jobs increased by 39,000 in November, which is the third straight m

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onth of an increase. Part-time jobs also increased by 40,000 – previously they had decreased in the past two months of October and September.

That means we saw 79,000 new jobs created in Canada – if you believe all the media hype. For most of us, the worst global disaster since The Great Depression of the Dirty Thirties is still rampaging its wrath. I personally know many families which continue to struggle to put food on the table, despite the constant headlines hollering that the economy is improving.

Chances are if you aren’t one of the millions looking for work, you know someone who is. So as you hear the network news anchors boast about our country’s new low unemployment rate, you may ask yourself: “so how come my friend is still out of work?”

Truth is the unemployment rate just doesn’t take into account the very basis for real value employment in this country – or any country for that matter.

The federal government’s statistics do not take into consideration the largest area of employment for the past twenty-years – self-employment.

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Over the past two decades, companies have been hiring fewer and fewer on staff, favoring the more cost effective approach of bring in people on contracts.

Also, as the economy shrank in the recessions of the 1990’s and today, many people were let go, at times when there were no jobs. Many simply gave up looking for work, and went into contracting as they were unable to find anything else.

Last month’s self-employment numbers fell sharply by 32,000 self-employment jobs according to Statistics Canada. These numbers are not considered in the unemployment rate calculations, the government thinks of them as more of a wild card which indicates the volatility of the job market.

Not only do the unemployment rates not consider one of the largest sectors of jobs in the country, they also fail to take into account the real money maker for most people – hours worked. The Canadian government only compares full and part-time positions – they don’t take into account the actual number of hours people work, and that’s what really affects most pay cheques.

The total hours worked actually declined last month by 0.3 percent according to Statistics Canada. This means although more people were being hired, they were working fewer hours, so in the end, were being paid less.

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When people don’t make as much as they once did, they cut back on spending, and that means less money being distributed into the economy, which fuels economic downturns such as a recession or depression. Statistics already are indicating that most Canadians plan to spend 40 percent less on holiday gift purchases this year than last year – and last year at this time we were well into the worst economic decline since The Great Depression.

And to add some vinegar to a widening wound, most of the increases in employment were in the education and service sectors.

In the education sector, this increase could be due to budgets needing to be spent before year-end, otherwise the money is gone for good. Meaning next year at this time, we could see a sudden loss of jobs in this sector, as everything eventually balances out.

The December holiday shopping season always boosts employment in the service sector at this time of year, as those in this sector make most of their profits during this time. Many companies in the service sector hire part-time temporary workers to fill the holiday rush, only to be let go either at the end of the year or early in the New Year. So again, these numbers are not a good sign of more jobs and a better economy.

So, how will you know when the economy really is booming again? You’ll know from your own experiences, and the experiences of the people in your life, long before the Canadian government’s statistics confirm what you and your family and friends experience.

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Government Contractors and Real Working Stiffs

Today, Canada’s largest provincial government got embroiled in a controversy which is unfortunately all too common – contracting out work.

Ironic, THE top election issue for the past several elections has always been jobs. Job creation, getting unemployed people working, getting under employed people work in their fields, job training, jobs, jobs, jobs – but not if you work for the Province of Ontario.

Jobs and getting people working in this economy has been the top electio

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n issue at all three levels of government in Canada, and much of the world, for several years.

So why is it that to get a job in Ontario, you have to be willing to sacrifice all the perks of having a job, and work as an independent contractor?

Or so that would appear to be the case if you worked for the Ontario Ministry of Health over the past decade. According to a report released by the province’s Auditor General, the eHealth Program Branch (not the already controversy beleaguered eHealth Ontario) had 27 people on staff, and over 300 independent contractors on the books. Many of those independent contractors were in senior management roles, leaving one questioning, just how good were their decisions for the good of an organization which they had no real bond or ties too.

Obviously, they weren’t all that well thought out, as Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty took the rap today for having most of those contracts not going through the provincially regulated channels of open bidding. Instead they all went to friends, family and colleagues of those independent contractors, according to the province’s auditor.

There’s nothing wrong with being an independent contractor. Work is work, but it’s not a job, as a job comes with benefits, and some sort of sense of security in employment.

Aside from the facts coming out of the auditor’s report of the $1 billion of wasted tax payer dollars to fund these independent contractors (many of whom overcharged for their services), and aside from the fact that they got into managerial roles and only hired their buddies (which happens in all workplaces anyways), the real issue is the hypocrisy of the lack of job creation within government, by the very same government saying they are doing what they can to create more jobs.

More and more private companies these days are hiring contractors and independent consultants than putting people on their own payrolls. It saves them money – big time. Instead of having to provide benefits, and pay for employees sick and vacation time, all they do is pay an hourly wage for someone to work on a specific project. When the project is done, they may keep the contractor on, or say goodbye, without having to fork over a mint in severance pay.

Contractors can make a lot more than salaried staff employees. The wages are higher, because the contracts are for a limited time period, so the

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re is an understanding between the “employer” and the contractor that this isn’t a regular, full-time permanent gig – it is just a temporary work arrangement.

It is the business equivalent of marriage versus a one night stand. Marriage is supposed to last forever, is a lot harder from an emotional and legal perspective to get out of, and creates a sense of belonging and security in the stability of the relationship. A one night stand on the other hand, anything goes, there are no strings attached, and there is little to no emotional or legal cost to get out of one, as there is no stability or sense of belonging as it is only a quick fix, to a basic human need for companionship or physical connection.

And that’s the big downside to contracting – no security nor sense of belonging. You can be let go in a second if the company you’re working for decides they just don’t need or want to fund the project you are assigned too. You don’t get paid for all those statutory holidays that everyone else gets. You don’t get paid for when you have to take a sick day. And vacation time? HA – you’re lucky if you’re entitled to even take time off, let alone getting paid for that time off.

You’re just a quick fix, a band aid for one company’s short-term problems. That band aid could last a few weeks, months, or years if you’re lucky. But eventually – and there’s always an eventually – the contract will end, and you will be out on your butt looking for your next gig.

That’s the life of an independent contractor. A consultant. A one night stand in the business world.

So Canada’s largest province has been creating one-night stand temporary quick fix types of work, instead of real, long lasting, stable and secure jobs within it’s own ranks, while claiming to be creating real jobs for real people – as they said during one of their promotional campaigns a while back.

In the short-term, and perhaps for the length of this government’s run in office, these contractual gigs happily keep the unemployment numbers low. In the long-term, when the contracts end, many of these independent contractors go out looking for their next gig, unemployment will again jump.

Especially once the province’s Auditor General’s report is implemented – new rules and restrictions will go into place to prevent the excessive consultant charges, and unfair hiring practices used by those consultants and their agencies, from ever taking place again.

Yes the whole contractual bidding process is a mess in Ontario, and the amount of overbilled consultant fees stinks. But the bigger issue, the one which really eats into our society is the fact that the very same governments aiming at creating jobs, don’t offer any themselves.

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The Great Recession - What a Load of Hooey

Last month we told you how despite the continued faltering of the global economy, Canada’s national fiscal regulator, The Bank of Canada, boldly declared the recession over. At the time, we disagreed, because of the lack of supporting evidence presented by the nation’s bank.

Last week, the Canadian and American governments released their unemployment figures July - and just as we told you last month - the so-called recession isn’t over yet, at least not in Canada.

Statistics Canada said there was no sign of economic recovery last month, with a loss of over 45, 000 Canadian jobs, despite the Bank of Canada’s previous claim.
Though the American economy did do a tad better, showing a slight i

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ncrease in jobs - the first such increase in over 15-months.

This whole economic meltdown has government deception written all over it.
Instead of declaring it what it really is - a depression - economists at major private and public financial institutions continue to refer to as a “recession.”

This is because technically, it hasn’t lasted long enough to be a depression. But the affects of the current economic crisis are far worse than they were during the Great Depression of the “dirty thirties,” so doesn’t it make sense to call this fiscal mess what it really is - a depression?

Some clever financial analysts have come up with ways of describing the astronomically bad nature of the current economy, without using the “d”epression word.

I heard one the other day call it the “Great Recession” linking it to the nature of the Great Depression, but without using the word “depression.” Some just refer to it as the “worst economic slowdown since the Great Depression.”

Far more just talk about the effects on jobs, people’s homes and saving instead of actually talking about what we really are in. They talk around the issue, describing the situation, without actually defining it. Clever - and possi

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bly scary - would you want this type of person responsible for your finances?

Truth is, we are in something far worse than an economic depression. It’s so bad, economists don’t have a word to adequately describe it. The economy will never be the same - we’ve lost jobs that will never come back, companies that were fiscal powerhouses in their business and industry sector have disappeared completely, more people have lost their jobs, their homes, their cars, and in the most literal sense of the word - their way of staying alive - than at any other point in history worldwide.

Governments have had to bailout mega-big businesses including the auto sector and various airlines. People have cut back on once thought normal, every day activities, like going to the movies, eating out, or having that morning coffee, just to scrounge up enough savings to have some money for the basics.

More people go without the basics everyday than ever before - things like food, clean drinking water, clothing, and a roof overhead.

The economy will get better, it has too, that’s the nature of the Capitalistic system. But we are far from out of the worst economic . . . or f*ck it - we are far from being over this global economic depression.

Before it is a distant memory, more people will lose their jobs, millions more will lose their cars, and homes, and governments will continue to forecast the end.

Well, eventually they will get it right. If you keep calling the cars passing by a “bus” eventually, when a “bus” passes by, you’ll be right.

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