Georgetti says situation is urgent
OTTAWA - The Canadian Labour Congress has responded to news that Canada lost 129,000 jobs in January with a renewed call for the federal government to make urgently-needed improvements to the Employment Insurance program.
"This is stunning," says Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian Labour Congress. "It's an economic tsunami for Canadian workers and there's more to come. We have now lost 213,000 good full-time jobs in the past three months and the unemployment rate is at 7.2 percent."
Georgetti says many laid-off workers and their families will be left out in the cold because governments have changed the rules for EI, making it harder to qualify and chopping the benefits for those who do.
"The effects of the government's economic stimulus package won't kick in for months but workers who are innocent victims of this recession need help right now," says Georgetti.
He says that workers and their unions are going to keep the pressure on the government to improve the EI program. "People have paid their premiums believing that they would receive their insurance when they find themselves unemployed. Rainy day funds are supposed to be there for rainy days."
Analysis of Senior Economist, Sylvain Schetagne
Unprecedented deterioration of the labour market is confirmed.
Canada lost 129,000 jobs in January 2009, a deterioration well beyond anything seen in the past three decades.
About a quarter of a million full and part-time jobs (234,000) have been lost in the past three months. Canada is now back to levels of employment experienced 15 months ago, in October 2007.
The unemployment rate increased by 0.6% in January to 7.2%, up sharply from 6.6% in December. The unemployment rate is back to where it was about five years ago. It would have been even higher if 29,000 workers had not left the labour market last month.
Most of the jobs lost were full-time (114,000), but many part-time jobs (15,100) were lost in January as well. The biggest job loss occurred in Ontario (71,000), British Columbia (35,000) and Quebec (26,000).
Jobs were lost in both the public and private sectors. The majority of sectors experienced a decline in their level of employment in January, with a significant decrease concentrated in manufacturing (100,900).
Canada now has 1,310,100 unemployed, an increase of 100,000 newly- unemployed people in January alone.
The Canadian Labour Congress, the national voice of the labour movement, represents 3.2 million Canadian workers. The CLC brings together Canada's national and international unions along with the provincial and territorial federations of labour and 130 district labour councils. Web site: www.canadianlabour.ca
Contacts:
Sylvain Schetagne, Senior Economist, 613-526-7412
Dennis Gruending, Communications, 613-526-7431, and 613-878-6040
