The Harper government’s track record on job creation is “mixed at best,” a report by the Broadbent Institute says.
Unemployment is higher, job quality is mixed and there is evidence pay inequality has increased under the Harper government, according to a report to be published Wednesday.
While the economy has created more jobs since the Great Recession of 2008, unemployment is still higher than it was in 2006 when the Harper government came to office, the report for the Broadbent Institute found.
“That hasn’t stopped Stephen Harper and his Conservative government from trumpeting their record as good economic managers, claiming to pursue a successful jobs and growth agenda,” the report by the progressive Ottawa-based think tank noted.
With a federal budget less than two weeks away and an election campaign coming this fall, the institute decided to take a closer look at whether the job market has improved under Harper’s watch.
READ MORE: http://www.thestar.com/business/economy/2015/04/15/report-dispute-harpers-record-on-jobs.html
In comparison with 2006, when the Harper government was first elected, unemployment is higher for all age groups and both genders, the institute notes, based on data supplied by Statistics Canada.
Among 25 to 54 year olds, for example, the unemployment rate in 2006 was 5.3 per cent. The rate rose in 2009, during the Great Recession, to 7.1 per cent. By the end of 2014, it had fallen to 5.8 per cent by remained above pre-recession levels, the data shows.
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