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Distinguishing between real labour shortages and employers who just want cheaper workers can be challenging. One sign of a true labour shortage is when the wages offered for vacant positions rise, with employers being forced to offer more money to attract and keep qualified workers.

Employment rose slightly in January, after remaining mostly stable during the final three months of 2023. Although this increase is encouraging, new jobs have not kept pace with the growth in the number of workers aged 15 and up. Over the past year, while 345,000 new jobs were added, the working-age population expanded by 1 million.

Families and businesses seeking relief from the pressures of high interest rates would love to know when the Bank of Canada is going to start lowering rates. Despite a slowdown in price increases compared to 2022, core measures of inflation, including the Consumer Price Index (CPI), remain above the Bank of Canada’s target range of 1-3%.

A recent study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives shows that the average income of Canada’s top 100 CEOs hit $14.9 million in 2022, 246 times higher than the average worker’s salary.

The federal government’s Fall Economic Statement included a new Canadian Mortgage Charter. The Charter is meant to alleviate concerns from the estimated 2.2 million households who will be renewing their mortgages over the next two years. These mortgages were negotiated when mortgage rates were substantially lower, and so many borrowers will see rate increases between 2% to 3.5%. The mortgage stress test has been in place since January 2018, so all these loans were stress-tested to their current rate plus 2%.

A new CCPA report, “At What Cost? Ontario hospital privatization and the threat to public health care”, has found that increasing privatization in Ontario’s health care system will likely increase surgery wait times and the cost to the public. The report used Freedom of Information requests, financial and statistical analysis, and international research to evaluate the costs and benefits of the Ontario provincial government’s plan to increase the use of private, for-profit surgical facilities.

The average first year wage settlement increased for both public and private sector unions in the third quarter of 2023. Unions have been able to bargain an average 6.3% wage increase in the public sector, and a 7.2% wage increase in the private sector.

In the current macro-economic environment, the Bank of Canada and others are encouraging the federal government to limit spending increases, suggesting that any increase in spending would be inflationary. But some types of spending help lower prices and ease overall inflation. A great example of this is $10/day childcare, especially if it’s delivered by the public or not-for-profit sector.