Canada's year-end employment numbers paint sad picture for 2012, CAW says

TORONTO, Jan. 6, 2012 /CNW/ - Despite a gain of nearly 18,000 new jobs in December, job growth in Canada was found exclusively among those working part-time and the self-employed, a frustrating end to 2011 that offers little optimism for the year ahead, said CAW President Ken Lewenza.

"The first sign of life we've seen in our jobs market in months wasn't really a good news story after all," Lewenza said, responding to the release of Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey jobs report.

Job growth in December was the first positive news Canadian workers received since the economy shed over 70,000 jobs between October and November. All of the December gains were found in part-time (+43,100) and self-employed (+31,100) while full-time jobs fell (-25,500).

This negative job market trend does not bode well for the 1.4 million still looking for work and the countless others who could lose their job in the coming year, especially as the Harper government and others continue to plow ahead with wrong-headed austerity plans, Lewenza said.

"It's time for governments to stop shirking responsibility over jobs in our economy and stop blaming all of our problems on the global economy," Lewenza said. "We're watching good Canadian jobs turn bad, and that's because private and public employers have effectively been given the green light to run roughshod over workers by cutting salaries, reducing hours and unfairly changing the terms and conditions of work."

"That's a direct result of poor oversight by our politicians and policy-makers."

contact CAW Communications: Angelo DiCaro [phone] or John McClyment [phone]