Job losses in Canada have stabilized and the economy is threatening to gain pace again. But hidden in the improving picture is that the quality of jobs is declining. There has been a rise in the number of part-time jobs, lower-paying positions and self-employment, CIBC notes in a report, using figures from Statistics Canada. The bank says its Employment Quality Index has "nose dived" by 3.8 per cent since March.
The good news
September's jobless rate fell to 8.4 per cent from 8.7 per cent, after hitting an 11-year high in August. The 92,000 new jobs offered hope of the economy rebounding from the deepest recession in a generation.
The reality check
"Any benefits from a stabilizing employment level are being offset, at least in part, by lower employment quality," writes CIBC's Benjamin Tal. "Granted, a low-quality job is better than no job, but the headline unemployment numbers overstate the real health of the Canadian labour market."
Drilling down
The number of high-paying jobs has fallen by 3 per cent in the past six months, while the number of people who describe themselves as self-employed has risen by the same amount. The decline in employment quality is steepest in British Columbia.
The index
CIBC's employment quality index measures three areas: part-time vs. full-time jobs; self employment vs. paid work; pay levels of jobs in more than 100 industry groups.
Staff