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 [...]
Entries Tagged as 'employment'
The job market may be recovering but some jobs are not coming back
May 18th, 2010 · Iglika Ivanova · 2 Comments · Economy, Employment & labour
Tags: Economy·employment·recovery
The catch-22 of low-income benefits that are phased out quickly
October 9th, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · 8 Comments · Children & youth, Employment & labour, Housing & homelessness, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Provincial budget & finance, Taxes, Women
My friend Emily is a single mom. She works full time for a salary that keeps her and her child above the poverty line but doesn’t allow for much more. Her income is low enough that she qualifies for temporary relief from paying her student loans (which are massive even though she is yet to [...]
Will job creation solve our poverty problems?
September 28th, 2009 · Iglika Ivanova · Comments Off · Economy, Employment & labour, Poverty, inequality & welfare
You may recall that during the leaders’ debate prior to last May’s election, Gordon Campbell argued that creating jobs is the best poverty reduction strategy out there. Since his re-election, the government’s attention has been focused on the economy, while social policy has taken a back seat. But is this the best approach? A recent [...]
Tags: Economy·employment·job creation·OECD·poverty·poverty reduction·recession·working poor
What are we going to do with the oil and gas industry?
May 7th, 2009 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · Economy, Environment, resources & sustainability
That is the question no one seems willing to entertain in this election campaign. In today’s Vancouver Sun, David Collyer of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers makes the case for expanding the industry based on some dubious facts. First there is this gem: The industry has invested almost $30 billion dollars in British Columbia [...]
Tags: BC Oil and Gas Commission·David Collyer·employment·flaring·greenhouse gas·oil and gas·Petroleum Producers
Poverty reduction and the party platforms
May 7th, 2009 · Seth Klein · Comments Off · Poverty, inequality & welfare
The CCPA is a member of the BC Poverty Reduction Committee, the network that has been pressing all the BC political parties to commit to a comprehensive poverty reduction plan. Over 280 organizations have now signed an Open Letter to all the political parties calling on them to commit to a poverty reduciton plan with [...]
Tags: campaign·child poverty·children·employment·Greens·Liberals·NDP·platform·poverty·Poverty Reduction Coalition·Steve Kerstetter·unemployment
BC's soaring EI claims
April 28th, 2009 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · Economy, Employment & labour
Today’s Statistics Canada release features the latest (February 2009) stats on Employment Insurance claims. From February 2008 to February 2009, the number of EI beneficiaries is up 69%. And the number is up 11.6% just between January and February. More evidence that the BC economy is in much worse shape than the major political parties [...]
Tags: EI·employment·recession·unemployment
Wishing away child poverty
April 3rd, 2009 · Seth Klein · Comments Off · Children & youth, Poverty, inequality & welfare
This past week, local CTV news ran a series on child poverty called “BC’s Shame”. They’ve posted the series on their website, along with the full interview reporter Mi-Jung Lee had with Premier Campbell about child poverty. The series was very good, but the premier’s comments were disappointing. Premier Campbell spent much of the interview [...]
Tags: child poverty·Danny Williams·employment·LICO·MBM·Newfoundland·poverty
Following the money in BC communities
March 12th, 2009 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · Economy, Employment & labour, Environment, resources & sustainability, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Provincial budget & finance, Taxes
It is one of those publications that few media outlets will report on, and even fewer British Columbians will read, but BC Stats just released the latest version of its Local Area Economic Dependencies, updated based on 2006 census data. This publication basically asks where the income in various BC communities comes from. In many [...]
Tags: EI·employment·forestry·public sector·transfer payments·welfare
Partisan claims and the BC economy
February 23rd, 2009 · Marc Lee · Comments Off · Economy
BC’s recession and election together mean things are going to get nasty in the political realm. Already we seeing plenty of sneering commentary from our esteemed cabinet ministers. Consider this jibe from Colin Hansen, the Minister of Finance, in his annual address to the brethren of Sigma Chi: “I want you to think about one [...]
Tags: campaign·employment·inequality·Liberals·NDP·Olympics·recession·tax cuts
Not the usual sceptics
February 22nd, 2009 · Keith Reynolds · Comments Off · Provincial budget & finance
Scepticism about the provincial budget last week is extending beyond the usual sceptics. BC’s Credit Union Central has published its take titled “The Bandage Budget” (read here) and it is raising some questions about assumptions being presented. On the size of the possible deficit: The projected deficit in 2009/10 is small in absolute ($495 million) [...]
Tags: budget·Credit Union Central·deficit·employment·housing
