harper-manufacturing_thumb-1.png
harper-manufacturing_thumb-1.png This article is more than 7 years old

Manufacturing jobs down again, but Harper claims the “economy is healthy and growing”

Canada's new job numbers throw a wrench in Conservative leader Stephen Harper's story that aside from the oil and gas sector, the rest of the economy is firing on all cylinders.

Canada’s new job numbers throw a wrench in Conservative leader Stephen Harper’s story that aside from the oil and gas sector, the rest of the economy is firing on all cylinders.

“I’ve been very clear,” Harper said in August. “Eighty per cent of the Canadian economy is healthy and growing,” but adding “we have a contraction in the energy sector that everybody knows is because of low oil prices.”

The Canadian Press called that “a lot of baloney,” but this week Conservative candidate Jason Kenney doubled-down describing Canada’s economic troubles as nothing more than a “discrete sectoral downturn.”

discrete-sectoral-downturn.png

Yet August’s Labour Force Survey released Friday by Statistics Canada shows job losses in sectors beyond natural resources, notably with the continued decline in manufacturing jobs for the third month in a row.

Manufacturing has now posted job losses in two of three months of the third quarter of 2015, not a promising sign as Canada struggles to lift itself out of recession.

Other industries that saw job losses in August include construction; utilities; transportation and warehousing; information, culture and recreation; as well as professional, scientific and technical services.

Overall, Canada created a total of 12,000 jobs in August, mostly in education and public administration, although that wasn’t enough to keep pace with the number of people looking for work, with unemployment ticking up to 7% and the employment rate remaining static.

Since the 2008 recession, manufacturing as a share of GDP has fallen from 14.8% to 10.6%. In February, Canadian manufacturing jobs plummeted to their second lowest level since 1976 and has remained flat since. 

Friday’s job numbers show Canada has racked up a net-loss of 412,600 manufacturing jobs since Harper assumed office in February 2006.

Photo: Global.

Our journalism is powered by readers like you.

We’re an award-winning non-profit news organization that covers topics like social and economic inequality, big business and labour, and right-wing extremism.

Help us build so we can bring to light stories that don’t get the attention they deserve from Canada’s big corporate media outlets.

 

Donate
PressProgress
PressProgress is an award-winning non-profit news organization focused on uncovering and unpacking the news through original investigative and explanatory journalism.

Most Shared

thumb-2023-03-09-federal-budget-canada-student-grant Analysis

Ontario Budget 2023: Doug Ford Pulled a Sneaky Move to Quietly Cut Education

Related Stories

Analysis

Budget 2023: Canada Student Grants are Getting Cut By $1,800 Per Year, Not ‘Enhanced’

View the post
News

BC Workers are Being Forced Into Mandatory Drug Testing and Private ‘Recovery’ Programs

View the post
News

Budget 2023: Dental Care Plan Will Cover Millions More Uninsured Canadians Than Originally Estimated

View the post

Explainers

Human rights & inclusion

Amira Elghawaby

Here’s The Problem With Hoping Corporations Will Be Socially and Environmentally Responsible On Their Own

View the post
Politics & strategy

Jeremy Appel

The battle of the PACs in Calgary’s municipal election

View the post
Politics & strategy

Jeremy Appel

27 Different Candidates are Vying to be Calgary’s Mayor. Here Are the Biggest Issues at Stake.

View the post
Newspapers always have a business section – why not a labour section? We’ve launched a free newsletter covering labour issues in Canada.
Get Canadian Labour News You Won't Find in Corporate Newspapers.
We’ve launched a free newsletter covering labour issues in Canada.
Get Canadian Labour News You Won't Find in Corporate Newspapers