Education, Skills and Labour Market - Op Eds

Many Canadian employers are facing a tightening labour market due to labour shortages. Imbalances between labour supply and demand exist across population groups and regions. Addressing these disparities through improvements in labour mobility and employment of underrepresented groups would have a positive impact on the Canadian economy.

According to Statistics Canada, the number of job vacancies (unadjusted for seasonality) rose by 19.3 per cent to more than 462,000 in the first quarter of 2018 compared with a year earlier. This led to an increase in the job-vacancy rate − the share of unfilled jobs out of all available jobs − from 2.6 per cent to 2.9 per cent, pointing to a need for more workers.

On the other hand,…

The largest one-time increase in the minimum-wage rate that any province experienced over the past two decades happened in Ontario at the beginning of the year. The early results are in: As anticipated, it has caused a reduction in youth employment, but this dramatic minimum-wage increase has also extensively hurt the employment of older workers.

The Ontario government increased its minimum wage to $14 an hour on Jan. 1 from $11.40 an hour; a 23-per-cent boost. The real impact of a higher minimum wage, however, depends on how businesses absorb the increase in operating expenses when labour costs go up.

Did employers cut back on the number of workers?

Comparing the pre- and post-January three-month averages…

The aging of the population has accelerated in Canada during the past decade, but not all provinces evenly bear the brunt of an aging labour force and growing share of seniors. The four Atlantic provinces are facing significant challenges while Alberta is less vulnerable and more prepared.

Lower fertility rates and improvements in life expectancy have contributed to Canada’s aging population. This demographic shift causes the labour force to shrink as a percentage of the population and slows economic growth. Further, the aging population has some implications for government finances since it dampens revenue growth and puts pressure on government spending that is sensitive to aging, such as health care and public pensions.

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In recent years, municipal employees’ wage growth has constantly outpaced other unionized sectors. Since wages, salaries and benefits make up more than half of the operating expenditure for most municipalities in Canada, ever-growing municipal wages are putting pressure on local public finances.

The evidence of fast-growing municipal employees’ wages can be found in the comprehensive data on collective bargaining covering 500 or more employees provided by Employment and Social Development Canada. Wage growth of municipal employees has significantly surpassed inflation in most years: municipal employees saw an average real wage growth of 0.53 per cent a year since 2011. In contrast, non-municipal public-sector workers…

Hugh Segal is principal of Massey College. He served in the Canadian Senate as a Conservative from Ontario and was vice-chair of the subcommittee on urban poverty.

Every democracy’s internal legitimacy is tied to how fair the residents of that country feel…