Canadian dollar almost at parity with US, will pass it soon

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Kontiki


Maybe, maybe not. If entry level employers were raising their wages and still not getting any takers, and the labour market was tight across the board, I'd say you have a shortage. Such is the case in Alberta. When there's still a decent level of unemployment and the only positions going immediately unfilled are minimum wage fast food jobs, not so much.

Well in a province like Newfoundland there is a dual personality

One face is rural areas (where there are no fast food chains) and where there is really not much good employment at all. These communities are shrinking and aging with the departure of most youth. Unemployment rates in these areas are huge

The other face is St. John's and area. call centre jobs pay better than 10 per hour for not overly difficult work and they have drained away the traditional student/youth labour pool that saw retail and fast food through. The result is that wages have gone up in thiose industries too. While the official unemployment rate in St. John's is still around 10% IIRC I do wonder how many of those people really want to work and how many have been "working the system" for so long that they will continue to work it for as long as they can

[Wezil]

When I was last in school (admittedly awhile ago now) we were told that 6% unemployment was about as low as Cdn rates would go. We are below that now.

[Peter Triggs]

Victor, they announced this last Febuary, but it doesn't seem to have got a lot of attention:

After hearing from numerous witnesses at the Standing Committee on Finance, the Liberal Opposition has a plan. It is proposing that the government repeal its planned 31.5 per cent tax regime and replace it with a modest 10 per cent tax, to be paid by the companies, that would be refundable to Canadian residents. The tax would be imposed immediately with the revenue shared equitably with provincial governments.

“Rather than considering what is best for Canadians, the Prime Minister simply decided that he was going to put an end to the income trust sector,” said Mr. McCallum. “After hearing from dozens of expert witnesses we have developed a proposal that is fair to Canadian investors, to corporations and the income trust sector as well as federal and provincial governments.”

http://www.liberal.ca/story_12457_e.aspx

They would keep the ban on new income trusts so the Banks don't get to stop being corporations.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
The shares would go back up if the tax were repealed.

Just to be clear-- There was no tax placed on trusts. What happened is that the government ended a provision that allowed trusts to deduct payments to unit-holders (essentially share-holders) to be deducted from their taxable incomes. IT had become more widely used than any government had intended

If you give that treatment to trusts, you might as well give it to all corporations too and save everyone the cost and bother of doing the conversions from corps to trusts-- Hell it might be just as well to eliminate corporate income tax completely so that then a corporation that actually wanted to keep some money for re-investment would not face worse tax consequences than the one that paid out every cent of profit to shareholders.

[Wezil]

Peter - You talk as if you believe these people. What gives?

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Wezil
When I was last in school (admittedly awhile ago now) we were told that 6% unemployment was about as low as Cdn rates would go. We are below that now.

I have always seen 4% unemployment cited as really full employment since there would always be that number transitioning.

I also wondered if the women on maternity leave are counted in the unemployment numbers. They do collect UI benefits so I suspect they are.

[Kontiki]

Originally posted by Wezil
Even if those "minimum wage fast food jobs" were being filled a decade ago?

Er, why not? Unemployment rates are lower now than a decade ago. That doesn't necessarily mean there's a labour shortage.

[Peter Triggs]

I'm not a Liberal. I would normally vote Conservative but they lied to me in the last election.

Hell hath no fury like a taxpayer who feels like he's been shafted by the government.

[Wezil]

Originally posted by Kontiki


Er, why not? Unemployment rates are lower now than a decade ago. That doesn't necessarily mean there's a labour shortage.

The only way I can make sense of your position is if I assume these low paying positions aren't really "jobs". I suspect people working these positions would heartily disagree with you.

[Wezil]

Originally posted by Peter Triggs
I'm not a Liberal. I would normally vote Conservative but they lied to me in the last election.

Hell hath no fury like a taxpayer who feels like he's been shafted by the government.

I'm not a Lib or a Conservative. I agree Harper is a lying sack of **** and I'd love to see him lose the next election but that isn't going to happen.

That said, I don't believe anything Liberals tell me. I've been around long enough to know the only thing Liberals stand for is gaining power. Say or do anything to get it. They have no underlying principles.

[Kontiki]

Originally posted by Wezil




The only way I can make sense of your position is if I assume these low paying positions aren't really "jobs". I suspect people working these positions would heartily disagree with you.

Frankly, I don't understand your position at all either, but perhaps I'm just not making myself clear.

The low paying positions are, of course, jobs. But they are the lowest paying jobs, and I haven't seen any evidence of employers upping the wages on them to attract people. At the same time, there's still plenty of people out of work in Ontario - we're at a 6.2% unemployment rate, not 3.6% like Alberta. Unless we get another Great Depression, there's always going to be entry level jobs available in some amount or the other. I don't think this is evidence of a labour shortage until these employers are so desperate for employees they start bidding up the wages to lure them. That has happened in Alberta. Otherwise, it just suggests a healthy but not exploding economy.

[Ben Kenobi]

Ben - You may get both today

GST + Income > Income > GST.

[Wezil]

Originally posted by Kontiki
The low paying positions are, of course, jobs. But they are the lowest paying jobs, and I haven't seen any evidence of employers upping the wages on them to attract people. At the same time, there's still plenty of people out of work in Ontario - we're at a 6.2% unemployment rate, not 3.6% like Alberta. Unless we get another Great Depression, there's always going to be entry level jobs available in some amount or the other. I don't think this is evidence of a labour shortage until these employers are so desperate for employees they start bidding up the wages to lure them. That has happened in Alberta. Otherwise, it just suggests a healthy but not exploding economy.

I don't know what employers of McJobs in Ontario are offering these days. I haven't looked.

The fact these jobs go unfilled when they never did before tells me there is a labour shortage. That fact seems to speak for itself. I have never seen so many help wanted signs before. In days of old these signs were unnecessary as there was always a resume pool to draw from. The last management position I held didn't require advertising at all for our McJobs. We had a six inch thick of resumes to draw from at any particular time.

As was mentioned earlier - 6% does not mean 6% of the workforce are out pounding the pavement looking for a job. Many people don't want to work (for whatever reason), some are in transition and some are probably counted for purely statistical reasons (the maternity/paternity issue Flubber mentioned being a good one).

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Wezil

(the maternity/paternity issue Flubber mentioned being a good one).

I wonder how big a number that would be? Would it be half a percent, a tenth?

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Wezil




The fact these jobs go unfilled when they never did before tells me there is a labour shortage.

me too even if it is only for certain sections of the labour force.

I now know that Ontario has a shortage of doctors and retail/fast food workers. How are you folks doing for Teachers, nurses, lab techs bus drivers?

Here in Alberta we seem to have shortages of pretty much anything from cab drivers up to geo-scientists-- Given the mobility of labour within Canada there will be a continuation of relocations I guess (although housing pricesa dn availability will probably be the big constraint on that