Out of Recession: Canada may have recouped its lost jobs, but parts of the country are still hurting

Article: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/recession/4228661/story.html

Summary:

Statistics Canada has confirmed that Canada's employment marked has regained its pre-recession peak of 17.2 million in the fall of 2008. All it took was an unexpectedly large gain of 69,200 jobs in January, compared to December 2010. Compared to our last recession (in the early 1990s) it's taken only half as long to regain the lost jobs. However, there is still plenty of economic damage to be repaired. During the recession, the country's population kept growing, which means currently, there are nearly 375,000 additional job seekers in the workforce. As a result, the national unemployment rate as of January is 7.8 percent compared to 6.1 percent at the start of the recession. As of now, many parts of the country are still hurting. For instance, 17 of the largest 33 urban areas had yet to regain previous employment levels. Peterborough, Guelph, and Kingston weren't even close. Other cities such as Kelowna, British Columbia, and Quebec City has performed well beyond pre-recession levels. It all depends on the city.

Connection:

This article ties in with one of the topics in chapter 5--Employment and unemployment. According to our textbook, the definition of an unemployed person is "any person who, during the reference week, was without work, had actively looked for work in the last four weeks, and was available for work. An unemployed person has an immediate interest in finding work, and would be available if suitable work were found." An employed person is "any person who did any work for pay or profit during the reference week. Others that are considered employed are "unpaid family workers in a family farm or business." This category also includes individuals who were on vacation, on strike or on sick leave during the reference week. As well, there are many types of unemployment and I think the one that is connected to the article is Structual unemployment. Structual unemployment is the result from a mismatch between demand in the labour market and the skills and locations of the workers seeking employment. Even though the number of vacancies may be equal to, or greater than the number of unemployed, the unemployed workers many lack the skills needed for the jobs; or they may not live in the part of the country or world where jobs are available. This is true to the article because areas such as Guelph and Kingston, they are still "hurting" from the recession and not many jobs are available. As a result, many individuals living there are unemployed because of where they live. Not many opportunities are present at this time.


Reflection:

Unemployment has always been a concern for us individuals. This is because when a worker's income has been reduced due to unemployment, it will be more difficult for them to support him/herself or their family. It is also a concern for Canada, because if people are not working, then it means that Canada is not using its resources efficiently enough. From this article, it is interesting to see that although we have officially stepped out of recession, and many jobs have been added to the economy, our unemployment rate has still increased to 7.8 percent compared to 6.1 percent at the start of the recession. This is because our population has grown during the recession and many people have decided to step into the workforce. I suppose even if we have successfully stepped out of recession, it is true that it will still take a long time for us to fully recover.