One in eight workers earns too little to cover basics of life

Low-wage jobs multiply in Canada as good jobs are wiped out and the gap grows between rich and poor

Ottawa (13 Dec. 2006) - One out of every eight Canadian workers is stuck in a low-wage job that does not cover cost-of-living essentials such as rent and food, and the number is rising despite unemployment rates that are at or near 30-year lows, says the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC).

These workers, along with part-time and self-employed workers, live in a "precarious" state of insecurity, the three-million-member central labour body says in an overview entitled, Report Card 2006 Is Your Work Working for You?

CLC president Ken Georgetti says more jobs in the economy have not meant better jobs for too many Canadians.

"As a country, we have a problem when one out of every eight people that have a job stays poor, and one out of every four workers have jobs that offer little economic security or stability," said Ken Georgetti, congress president.

Gap grows between rich and poor

Meanwhile, the rich are getting steadily richer in Canada while the poor drop further behind.

"There was a marked increase in wage inequality in the first half of 2006, with the top 10% now making 6.5 times more than the bottom 10% - up from 5.6 times more in the first half of 2005," the congress says.

“The people with the highest incomes are getting more than their fair share. Meanwhile, everyone else struggles to get by and the poorest workers get left behind. A truly healthy economy would do a better job of sharing its prosperity,” says Georgetti.

His remarks are backed up by the Canadian Association of Food Banks, which recently reported that people with jobs make up the second largest group of food bank clients.

Georgetti says the growth in poverty among working families has more to do with the poor quality, not the quantity of jobs being created.

“In a tight job market, employers should be able to offer permanent employment to workers, yet 27% of adult workers still find themselves with part-time, temporary jobs or in some form of self-employment. While there has been some decline in part-time jobs, the proportion of short-term contracts and seasonal jobs has grown,” he says.

300,000 manufacturing jobs lost in four years

The CLC says the new jobs being created are not replacing the jobs being lost in the country’s manufacturing sector, which has shed 300,000 jobs over the past four years.

Many of the disappearing jobs were full-time, high-skilled positions paying an average of $21 per hour. The Western Canadian energy boom has helped offset this decline but only one in six jobs has been replaced.

“Getting a job is supposed to mean getting ahead. It’s supposed to be a family’s ticket out of poverty," Georgetti said.

He called on the government to come up with a jobs strategy focusing on the long-term prosperity of working families, improving access to collective bargaining and raising and enforcing employment standards.

“Raising the wages of the poorest workers would be a good place to start, which means bringing minimum wages above the poverty line and providing the means for the working poor to improve their skills, including basic literacy and numeracy programs,” Georgetti adds. NUPGE