Labour Council Not Surprised by Jobless Numbers

Saturday, February 07, 2009 03:00 PM

Prince George, B.C. - The Prince George District Labour Council says it's not surprised by high unemployment numbers released Friday.

President Kevin Erickson says the council was expecting employment numbers to drop because of the current economic situation. Erickson says the Federal Government could have done a better job to soften the number of job losses in the province and across the country.

"It was are hope with the federal budget that came down last week that there would be more in there for those that are unemployed as well as those that are trying to keep the jobs they have right now. One of the things we were hoping for was there to be more money out there or some money out there for those that are unemployed that do not have the ability to access EI."

Erickson says the unemployment number are concerning, but even more of a concern is that the numbers released by the government don't tell the whole story.

"One of the big things that we look at is not just the unemployment numbers released by the government, but also the fact that there are a lot of people out there looking for work that don't fall under those numbers. For example, if you're not on the EI system, you don't count toward that unemployment rate."

The Canada Labour Force Survey says the national unemployment rate last month hit 7.2%, while the jobless rate in Prince George hit 5.9%.

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Posted on Saturday, February 07, 2009 03:00 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Harbinger on February 7 2009 4:57 PM

Other than saying tsk tsk tsk, what is the Labour Council going to do about this? Putting printer's ink on paper doesn't count. Either does "urging" any government at any level to do something. Have I left anything out?

Posted by: gamblor on February 7 2009 6:08 PM

Its pretty easy to qualify for EI. You lose your job, you get EI, you now have a year to get a new job. If it takes more than a year to get a new job, you're doing something wrong. Move, go to school, lower your standards, switch careers, network, stop attaching nude photos of Whoopi Goldberg to your resume, whatever it takes.

Posted by: lunarguy on February 7 2009 6:37 PM

What is the solution Harbinger ?

Posted by: dogs on February 7 2009 7:14 PM

Get rid of Unions- outlaw them

Posted by: The_grandinquisitor on February 7 2009 7:33 PM

Join the cops. Good money...good hours. They're hiring

Posted by: Harbinger on February 7 2009 7:36 PM

If I had a solution do ya think I would be still living in this "gritty little mill town"? (not my words) How is the economy gonna get better? It's the people. Not the tax sucking politicians/government. It's not the banks with their "billions in profit" and their millionaire presidents. Not bay street or wall street with their greed. Harper and Obama ain't gonna change a thing but give my kids and their kids more debt down the road and make them pay more taxes than I do now. Buy American/ Buy Canadian? If you ever organize a scavenger hunt get yer crew to go into Walmart and buy 4 things that aren't made in china. We don't make anything here anymore. All we did was cut down trees. Now what to do? Retrain to become retail associates? Up here we cut down trees and in the Lower Mainland they build condos. The worker or the ones that are still working and those lucky enough to get another job will turn this economy around. This is just a downturn in a cycle. Five years from now we will look back at this and laugh. You can't run an economy with service jobs. Grow food. Build houses. make clothes. We could grow food but it's cheaper to import. Build houses? Land costs are too much. Make clothes? Bangladesh and Taiwan come to mind. No rental housing for example. No incentive (tax deferrals or bonuses ) to build them. Ergo..no place to rent. We need another CD Howe. (Google him up and see what he was about) The way he ran the economy during the Second World War is what is needed. But people have changed since then. Blah. Blah. blah. You get the point, doncha?

Posted by: Harbinger on February 7 2009 7:37 PM

Questions extolling specifics will be cheerfully answered to the best of my ability (attitude also).