The International Labour Organization published a report this week on world youth unemployment that seems to have some relevance here in British Columbia. The study, Global Employment Trends for Youth, outlines the devastating impact the recession has had on young people worldwide. More than 80 million people aged 15 to 24 were unemployed at the [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Employment & labour'
The impact of the recession on young people
August 13th, 2010 · Keith Reynolds · 1 Comment · Children & youth, Economy, Employment & labour
Will the HST boost job growth and when?
July 6th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · No Comments · Economy, Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Taxes
As BC and Ontario have now started paying the HST at the till, many people may be wondering when exactly can we expect to see those jobs postings opening up. This is a good question. According to analysis commissioned by the BC government from economist Jack Mintz, titled British Columbia’s Harmonized Sales Tax: A Giant [...]
On the economic impacts of the HST
July 5th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · No Comments · Economy, Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Taxes
My previous HST post focused on the impact of the tax on households and I concluded that it’s likely that it will cost families and that some modest income families will be hurt by the tax. Is this sufficient reason to campaign for the tax to be repealed? Not necessarily. Public policy is about choices [...]
Early indicators of how the recession has hit BC’s poor
May 29th, 2010 · Seth Klein · 1 Comment · Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare
Just wanted to draw readers’ attention to a great op-ed piece in The Province newspaper this past Thursday: “Recession slammed BC’s poor; and it’s not over,” by Chandra Pasma. Chandra is a policy analyst with Citizens for Public Justice (a faith-based social justice group), and author of a recent report entitled Bearing the Brunt: How [...]
Tags: child poverty·poverty·recession
The job market may be recovering but some jobs are not coming back
May 18th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · 1 Comment · Economy, Employment & labour
A recent article in The New York Times illustrates this point with the story of an unemployed administrative assistant in her 50s, who has not been able to find a job for over two years after being laid off. As the journalist explains, her difficulties are likely not the result of age discrimination, the weak [...]
Tags: Economy·employment·recovery
Living Wage 2010
May 4th, 2010 · Seth Klein · 3 Comments · Employment & labour
This morning CCPA-BC released a new study with First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition, and the Metro Vancouver Living Wage for Families Campaign. Working for a Living Wage 2010: Making Paid Work Meet Basic Family Needs in Metro Vancouver updates the first Metro Vancouver calculation published in 2008. The living wage calculation includes [...]
Tags: living wage
Job creation alone will not solve BC’s poverty problem
April 29th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · No Comments · Economy, Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Provincial budget & finance
Whenever he’s confronted with questions about BC’s record high child poverty rates or by the growing income inequality in the province, our Premier maintains that the best social policy is a job. In fact, reducing the costs of doing business in BC seems to be this government’s chief economic strategy. Consider the HST, for example, [...]
Tags: Economy·job creation·OECD·poverty·poverty reduction·working poverty
Living Wage: Congratulations to New Westminster
April 27th, 2010 · Seth Klein · 8 Comments · Children & youth, Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare
Some great news to share on the living wage front. Last night (April 26), New Westminster City Council voted unanimously to adopt the first municipal Living Wage policy in Canada. They have used the broad definition of the family living wage, developed two years ago by CCPA, First Call and the Victoria Community Council (meaning, [...]
Tags: child poverty·living wage·poverty
Tax cuts don’t make up for BC’s low minimum wages
April 4th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · 3 Comments · Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Taxes
Responding to news of Ontario’s latest minimum wage increase (to $10.25 per hour), BC’s labour minister Murray Coell held firm on his government’s commitment to leave BC’s $8 minimum wage unchanged. The Minister seems convinced that the tax cuts over the last decade were so beneficial to low wage workers in the province, that they [...]
Tags: minimum wage·poverty·tax cuts
BC’s minimum wage is now 22% lower than Ontario’s
March 31st, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · 5 Comments · Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare
Today, thousands of low wage workers in Ontario are getting a raise of 75 cent per hour, as the province’s minimum wage goes up to $10.25. This makes Ontario the first province to pass the $10 mark, but several other provinces are following closely. Newfoundland’s minimum wage will increase to $10 in July, as will [...]
Tags: minimum wage
