Average job search now takes six months, an all-time high
Who wants some depressing news for the weekend? Anyone?
Sure as Oprah’s mortality was proven early Friday, Canada is in some serious financial peril.
But what’s causing our nation’s $5.8 billion deficit isn’t a beast like we’ve quite seen before.
Slowing revenue and increases in program spending we’ve weathered in the past, yet unprecedented cash lost to an auto industry bailout and spiked levels of unemployment benefit claims appear to be doing us no favours.
And it is that latter variable that is really doing Canada in. While the auto industry at least shows some signs of stabilization, unemployment is still sky-high and an ease on those claims is tough to see anytime soon.
News stories like these don’t make that fact any easier to swallow, either.
On the same day the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston boss predicted unemployment in the U.S. (and, let’s face it, in Canada too) would stay high for the next two years, Bloomberg now reports the recorded U.S. 9.8% unemployment rate is probably much lower than the actual number.
What’s worse is the time between job lay-off and job rehire is almost as big as it’s ever been.
This week colleague Gordon Powers reported that, while online job postings were actually up, there are still about four unemployed workers fighting for any opening that does come up.
In fact, in the U.S., the average job search period now takes over six months, the longest average since the government started keeping tabs on unemployment in 1948.
Here in Canada, that number doesn’t seem far off. Pretty good sign that if we’re going to turn deficit into surplus anytime soon, it won’t be easy unless more jobs are created.
Like, now.
By Jason Buckland, MSN Money
Posted by: Steve | Oct 4, 2021 9:57:15 AM
Interesting that it is always "unemployment" numbers quoted (with a thousand changeable measures) & not actual full time paid employed numbers (which only has one number).
Long term (not listed as unemployed), working part time? (not unemployed) forced into retraining because of a lack of jobs?(not unemployed) forced into early retirement (not unemployed) off on disability? (not unemployed) on maternity/paternity leave? (not unemployed), never found a job (not unemployed) etc, etc, etc
Posted by: Steve | Oct 4, 2021 10:04:13 AM
Forgot to include that real problem with listing actual full time employment numbers.
People would be able to see which government programs work & compare Canada's actual employment levels with other countries levels
Posted by: Keith Rodgers | Oct 5, 2021 5:18:51 PM
How can anybody find work when they keep exporting the jobs to the East, one day all these smart people will wake up to the fact they have stopped consumption by eporting the consumers jobs!
Guys you may have MBA`s or BA degrees but you need a worker before they can become a consumer its like the flip side of the coin. No amount of spin or upbeat talk will convince people to spend if they fear there job is going to be exported overseas and they lose the income.
Another thing putting the damper on spending is the rise of the contract agency worker, no contract worker will ever get a mortgage so the net effect of this is no housing sales. This has been brought on by loads of out sourcing and short term cost savings which trigger bonuses for line managers. The same cost saving and risk taking that sparked off the banking crisis is also going to happen in the corporate sector. The bottom line is starting to suffer now due to all this short term cost saving.
Posted by: job search | Oct 8, 2021 11:34:03 AM
It seems to me that the best way of job searching is combining all these means. But even if you do so, it can't be guaranteed you are sure to get what you've been looking for when you do your job search.
Posted by: Sir Richard | Oct 8, 2021 1:03:19 PM
I do not know what you are smoking but you better get off it. Your perceptions are just that, you have been looking through the thick bottom of a beer bottle. It is a very mean world out there right now and should continue to be that wy for the foreseeable future, particularly for those of us over 50 years of age. It does not matter how much experience and skills you bring to the table, you are deemed to be too old to employ and a 'risk' to an employer. I have been looking for work for the past 111/2 months and have found one important lesson. Employers have not bought into the economic recovery and as a result continue to layoff, fire, terminate as many employees as necessary to stay alive. Some employers have even resorted to using employees' pension funds to stay afloat, without any remorse and thoughts for restitution.
Personally speaking, though I have offered to work for nothing for 6 months if I may have a job, only to be told they want hire someone younger, with less skills and experience. That tells me there is an enormous uncharted work force out there that is not being included in the unemployment data figures. This near phantom work force has elected to become self employed of semi-retired. I wonder if anyone really wants to know the size of this work force. I hazard an educated guess it is over 500,000 workers. These are workers with no employment insurance benfits, no pension plan to fall back on and no foreseeable future for true retirement. Unfortunately, that includes me.