Winter 2008
Archived Content
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Trends in employment and wages, 2002 to 2007
Jane Lin
In 2007, the proportion of employed people in Canada was at its highest level in at least three decades, while the national unemployment rate sank to a 33-year low of 5.8%. However, manufacturing employment in Canada, as in the United States, has been on a downward trend. Between 2002 and 2007 employment rates increased the most in the highest-paying industries and occupations. On the other hand, some job losses were experienced by machine operators and assembly workers. Retail trade had been the largest creator of new jobs but was surpassed in 2007 by construction, and health care and social assistance.
Skilled trades employment
Wendy Pyper
Education and training continue to be important in the labour market. To many, this implies a university degree. But society also needs tradesworkers to perform many vital tasks—build houses, run the electrical lines, fix plumbing and maintain cars—to name just a few. Many businesses are reporting difficulties finding skilled tradespersons and governments are responding with policies to stimulate employment in the trades. Employment trends in selected trades over the past 20 years are examined, along with the socioeconomic traits of the workers and the characteristics of their jobs.
Interprovincial mobility and earnings
André Bernard, Ross Finnie and Benoît St-Jean
Interprovincial migration is a key component of demographic change in Canada. It also influences the supply of public services and tax revenues, the performance and efficiency of labour markets and productivity. As one would expect, people generally move from provinces with slack local labour markets to provinces with stronger labour markets. Improvements in labour market conditions and labour market outcomes tend to reduce out-migration rates. Migrants also record better earnings growth than non-migrants, especially when they are young.
Bridge employment
Benoît-Paul Hébert and May Luong
Retirement is a process rather than a discrete event. Many older workers who start receiving a pension stay in the labour market in some capacity for roughly two to three years before they completely cease employment. And many who quit paid work at one point subsequently return to the labour market, especially in the first year after leaving their career job. For a substantial proportion of older workers, this 'bridge employment' appears to be a choice rather than a necessity.
Rural commuting
Spencer Harris, Alessandro Alasia and Ray D. Bollman
Commuting is, to a large extent, an urban phenomenon. Close to 80% of commuting takes place between municipalities within larger urban centres. But commuting patterns are becoming increasingly complex and rural commuting is more complex than commonly believed. For persons in rural and small-town areas, rural-to-rural commuting is as large as rural-to-urban commuting. Moreover, rural jobs are more than twice as reliant on in-commuting rural workers as they are on in-commuting urban workers.
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