They can’t have gone far. They were here a month ago. CLC President Ken Georgetti warns the recession will get worse if the government doesn’t fix EI.
Today’s news is all about new unemployment statistics which show that the unemployment rate has gone up half a per cent in two months.
According to the CLC’s analysis of the announcement:
- The unemployment rate is up, now at 7.7% (it was 7.2% in January).
- The unemployment rate is back to where it was in July 2003, more than five years ago.
- The number of Canadians who lost their job last month: 83,000.
- The number of full-time jobs lost last month: 110,000.
- The number of full-time jobs lost so far this year: 225,000.
- Canadian workers who have lost their jobs since October 2008: 295,000.
- Canada now has over 1.4 million unemployed men and women. This represents an increase of 23% since last October.
- The construction sector was hardest hit in February, as were men aged 25 to 54. Young workers also took a hit last month, pushing their unemployment rate to 14.2%, the highest since 2001.
The Congress is organizing rallies March 21 to protest job loss and government inaction on EI.