There were 2.4m *more* Cdns who reported being 'employed', but who didn't work at all. Over 80% of those (1.9m) did not get paid. Include those employed but not working and not paid, takes the unemployment rate to 23.4%. But there's more ...3
There's 1.1m *more* Cdns who didn't work, and wanted to work, but did not 'actively' seek it. What's the point of looking for something that doesn't exist? Adjust both unemployment and the labour force for that group, unemployment becomes 27.7% ...4
Then we should include those who lost most but not all of their hours, and other involuntary part-time workers, and count their non-employment on a FTE basis. That takes unemployment to over 30% ...5
This is Depression-level unemployment, 2.5x higher than the very high 'official' rate. To avoid a decade of Depression, we need a years-long public-led plan to mobilize investment, directly create jobs, & provide crucial services & infrastructure: a post-COVID Marshall Plan...6
We also need to develop and regularly report a credible and more robust measure of labour market slackness. The official UE rate was increasingly misleading. Now it's almost irrelevant. We'll do some work on this at @CntrFutureWork; sign up for updates at centreforfuturework.ca
