Mar 12 2010 07:40:00 – Source: LAB [The Canadian Press]

Key elements of February unemployment statistics (Jobs-Quick-Stats) OTTAWA _ A quick look at February unemployment (previous month in brackets):

Unemployment rate: 8.2 per cent (8.3)

Number unemployed: 1,519,400 (1,531,700)

Number working: 16,945,300 (16,924,400)

Youth (15-24 years) unemployment: 15.2 (15.1)

Men (25 plus) unemployment: 7.6 per cent (7.9)

Women (25 plus) unemployment: 6.2 per cent (6.1)

Mar 12 2010 07:41:00 – Source: LAB [The Canadian Press]

February unemployment by provinces

_ Newfoundland 14.7 (14.9)

_ Prince Edward Island 10.2 (9.9)

_ Nova Scotia 9.3 (9.8)

_ New Brunswick 9.1 (9.3)

_ Quebec 8.1 (8.0)

_ Ontario 9.1 (9.2)

_ Manitoba 5.4 (5.4)

_ Saskatchewan 4.3 (4.7)

_ Alberta 6.9 (6.6)

_ British Columbia 7.7 (8.1)

Mar 12 2010 07:58:00 – Source: LAB [The Canadian Press]

February unemployment by cities

_St. John’s, N.L. 8.1 (8.6)

_Halifax 6.5 (6.5)

_Saint John, N.B. 7.9 (8.1)

_Saguenay, Que. 7.9 (8.0)

_Quebec 4.1 (4.5)

_Trois-Rivieres, Que. 10.0 (9.6)

_Sherbrooke, Que. 7.2 (6.1)

_Montreal 9.2 (9.1)

_Gatineau, Que. 6.1 (6.0)

_Ottawa 6.3 (6.2)

_Kingston, Ont. 5.8 (5.9)

_Toronto 9.4 (9.4)

_Hamilton 8.7 (8.9)

_Kitchener, Ont. 10.1 (9.9)

_London, Ont. 8.8 (8.7)

_Oshawa, Ont. 10.3 (10.4)

_St. Catharines-Niagara, Ont. 11.1 (11.2)

_Sudbury, Ont. 10.8 (10.4)

_Thunder Bay, Ont. 7.4 (7.6)

_Windsor, Ont. 12.4 (12.8)

_Winnipeg 5.6 (5.5)

_Regina 4.8 (4.8)

_Saskatoon 4.3 (4.8)

_Calgary 7.1 (7.2)

_Edmonton 6.8 (6.9)

_Abbotsford, B.C. 6.6 (7.3)

_Vancouver 7.7 (7.8)

_Victoria 7.5 (7.6)

(The Canadian Press)

Mar 12 2010 07:39:00 – Source: LAB [The Canadian Press]

Canada adds another 21,000 net jobs as unemployment rate slides to 8.2 per cent

By Julian Beltrame

THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA _ Canada’s recovering economy continued to churn out new

jobs last month, adding 60,000 full-time positions _ mostly in the

public sector and many filled by men aged 55 or more.

It’s the February unemployment rate of 8.2 per cent was the

lowest reported by Statistics Canada since last April, before the

country began to recover froma major recession.

The agency noted that the gain in full-time jobs _ including

26,000 filled by men in the over-55 age group _ was partially offset

by a loss of 39,000 part-time positions.

As a result, there was a net gain of 21,000 full- and part-time

jobs in February.

“Men aged 55 and over accounted for all of February’s employment

gain,” Statistics Canada said.

The agency said 46,000 of the jobs created in February came in

the government, public service sector, although the private sector

also posted gains.

The goods producing sector, which again posted large losses

during last year’s slump, also fared well as the troubled

manufacturing industry picked up 17,000 workers, and natural

resources rose 11,000.

Since July, Canada has added 159,000 new jobs, an impressive

record considering the United States continues to shed workers.

That is about the time when Canada’s economy turned a corner from

negative growth the positive, picking up steam in the last three

months of 2009, when output rebounded strongly at five per cent

annualized growth.

Economists had been expecting a slightly more modest gain of

15,000, but also cautioned that a big number could be in the offing

given the unseasonably mild weather during February and the

Vancouver Olympics factor.

The latter seemed to be borne out as there were 27,000 additional

jobs in the accommodation and food services industries and a 10,000

job gain in British Columbia that shaved 0.4 percentage points from

the provinces unemployment rate.

But Statistics Canada said the construction industry dropped

11,000 workers, an unexpected development given the weather and the

robust housing market.

Other sectors suffering setbacks included retail and wholesale

trade (34,000), finance, insurance and leasing (22,000), and other

services (13,000).

Meanwhile, business, building and other support services, and

health care and social assistance were among the winners.

Regionally, most provinces were either on the positive side of

the ledger or flat, with the notable exception of Alberta, which

suffered a 15,000 employment decline in February.

It is absolutely impossible to survive on EI, just watch this video and I am sure you will be as sickened as we were to hear what millions of Canadians live in every single day.  Poverty…

By David Helwig
SooToday.com
Saturday, March 06, 2010

SooToday.com has received the following letter from faithful reader Jennifer Cutting, whose family has found itself in a serious Catch-22 situation.

Her husband Trevor cannot afford to continue in school because of what she’s been told are widespread delays in some employment insurance payments.

But if he doesn’t stay in school, Trevor risks losing his eligibility for training funds and extended employment insurance benefits.

*************************
Dear editor:

Our family moved up to Northern Ontario at the end of August, 2009.

This was because my husband, Trevor, was permanently laid off from his job working in an automotive plant in July.

We decided to look at our situation positively, and Trevor decided to go back to school.

We relocated our family from Stratford and Trevor began the natural environment technician program at Sault College, after being out of school for 11 years.

Second Career, an employment retraining program, provided funding and Trevor was approved just before the government announced that the funding had been exhausted.

Trevor is enjoying the program, and our whole family looks forward to learning with him about what we can do to preserve our environment.

We learn new things every day and enjoy going for family nature walks while Trevor points out things that we never knew before.

We now see our world in a new way.

As part of being retrained, Trevor was eligible for extended employment insurance benefits.

Our family is just getting by and we are thankful that we are able to meet our needs.

However, this past Tuesday, when we went to buy groceries, we found that there was no money in our bank account.

We both figured it might be a system error, and Trevor called to inquire about what was going on.

The people that look after employment insurance said that because Trevor had been switched from employment insurance benefits to extended employment insurance benefits, there would be a delay.

They said that there were problems on their side, and they would call back within two days to clear everything up.

They didn’t call back.

Trevor called again yesterday morning and they said again he would have to wait another two business days, and that it could take up to two weeks for him to receive his benefits, which are currently providing for our family, including two children and three pets.

The woman that Trevor spoke to this time said that people all across the province were dealing with the same issues.

Trevor requested to speak to a supervisor.

They were not able to take the call.

He was advised that there could be a complaint sent to the employment insurance headquarters in Windsor, as well as to the province.

In the meantime, our family is expected to wait.

We do not have money for gas, which Trevor needs to get to school.

He cannot miss time or else he is at risk of losing his funding for training.

As well, he needs to go to school to be eligible for extended employment insurance benefits.

The more he misses, the harder it will be for him to catch up.

We have exhausted our bank accounts, and our family and friends have helped us so much already.

I also go to school part-time, which I am funding myself, and have started a parttime waitressing job just this week.

I hope that the tips will cover my gas so I can get into work and home from work, and maybe have a little extra left over for some food.

This situation has been very frustrating and sad for our whole family.

Our daughter had a pizza day this week at school, and we managed to come up with just enough to cover a slice of pizza.

Our son was at a school skiing trip yesterday, and if it was not for the generosity of his school to cover the costs, he would not have been able to participate.

It is unfortunate that people who have paid years and years into employment insurance, cannot count on it to come through.

Even government employees sound frustrated with the system and they admit that there are issues.

With so many people that have no other choice but to depend on this to survive, who have families to feed and bills to pay, how can the government not ensure that the very citizens that paid for this insurance receive it?

Instead, the government seems more concerned with the wording to the anthem of O Canada, but not the people that anthem represents and who sing it with pride.

I just hope that the system will change, and that no other families will have to experience what it feels like to wonder what their next meal will be or where it will come from.

Unless things change, I don’t see this happening in the near future.

God Bless.

Sincerely, Jennifer Cutting

by: Wayne MacLean

What I have been noticing on my daily travels of the internet, as I am combing the world’s news looking for articles related to Canada’s EI system is how flawed our media reporting is on the subject.  I just read an article out of a newspaper on the East Coast boasting the people on EI in New Brunswick dropped by 3.5% in December according to Stats Canada.  What the article, and Stats Canada website, fails to go on to say is how many of these workers that are no longer collecting EI benefits have found meaningful, sustainable employment.  The article and Stats Canada don’t tell us if these workers found a part time job, a full time job, maybe two or three part time jobs or no job at all.  Just last month articles were abound with predictions that 500,000 people would likely fall through the cracks in the EI system.  You see, that’s how this Harper Government works, they hold back the information that would complete the picture because they wish it to be painted in a way that makes Canadians think they are doing something that matters.

Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, the person supposedly in charge of Canada’s EI system made what she hailed yesterday an announcement that “would make it easier and faster for Canadians to get their benefits”.  The big announcement?  Web videos.  That’s right, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada has now created a series of ten videos to help you navigate the very complex online EI filing system.  Does that “announcement” leave you wanting a little more?  Maybe something with a little teeth, something real?

It makes me wonder about the development of the videos, the resources required to be able to deliver them to the public and my question has to be, why wasn’t this money used in a way that would actually help workers, it may seem like a small amount in the grand scheme of things but workers need good paying full time jobs and they need benefits to last them while they look for them.  We don’t need more “work-share” programs that don’t work, or colourful television ads telling us how much the Government cares about us as workers.  It seems for a Government intent on making the public feel that they want to spend our tax dollars carefully they sure waste a lot on smoke and mirrors.  This money could have been used much more wisely than a “pet project” of an ineffectual Minister that is a puppet of her boss the Prime Minister, a known advocate of abolishing EI all together.

People, EI is broken, good paying, sustainable, meaningful jobs are getting harder to come by with the advances of globalization, capitalism and of precarious work in this country.  If we don’t step up our action on this campaign we will all be wishing we would have when we are working three part time jobs just to make ends meet, unfortunately we will be too busy working all over the place to be effective and fight back.  We can’t wait any longer, now is the time to fight.

Please sign the petition here, and together maybe we can make a difference.

Take a look at this map, understand that it it is American, however the fact that Canada’s unemployment rate is also at 10 % ++ our map would not be much different . It shows how the unemployment rate has changed over the past several months. When you get to the map, click the arrow in the middle and watch how things changed. Incredible what “The Great Recession” has done. The old saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words” is never more true than looking at this map. Viewing it only takes a few seconds. The darker the color, the higher the unemployment. 2009 has been BRUTAL for the all of the working class regardless of occupation .

US Unemployment Map – Interactive