He also found that low income was not only more prevalent among youth (aged 16- 24), but also much more prevalent among women (full-time, full-year) equaling 16 percent as opposed to 7 percent for men.  This again, speaks to our initial assumptions concerning not only the number of jobs that the Toronto Star reported on, but most importantly that when the quality of those jobs is taken into consideration the picture that emerges is far less optimistic.

Absent also was any discussion of the employment crisis in manufacturing and the forest industry.  One would have thought, given the extent and depth of the crisis in these sectors, that it would have made headline news.  But this has not been the case.  We also note that many reports on the economy focus on jobs created, but fail to balance their discussion with a report on job losses.  Manufacturing remains a major part of the Canadian economy.  Over two million Workers are directly employed in this sector (12.9%).  The Canadian Manufacturers and Export Association estimates that manufacturing sector wages are a full 28% higher than the Canadian average.  In significant part, this wage differential is due to the fact that nearly one in three manufacturing jobs are unionized.

Nearly 70% of manufactured products are now exported making this sector central to Canada’s economic health.  Indeed, manufacturing played a key role in the economic recovery of the mid to late 1990s adding thousands of jobs to the Canadian economy.

Today the situation in manufacturing is particularly troubled despite the oil and employment boom in Western Canada.  Job loss across Canada in this important sector totaled 258,000 between August 2002 and May 2006.  This totals more than one in ten jobs.  Most of these job losses have been, as one would expect, in Ontario and Quebec.  Job losses in Ontario alone between August 2002 and May 2006 total 125,000.  The consequent harsh reality of job loss, experienced by thousands of workers across Ontario in both urban industrial plants and pulp and paper mills across Northern Ontario, has yet to make the headlines despite its economic importance and the human toll it takes on those thousands of workers permanently laid off.