Target long-term joblessness: OECD

Give job-search help, training, Canada told

The federal government is being urged to provide targeted assistance for Canada’s long-term unemployed, a problem the OECD says remains unacceptably high despite the improving jobs picture.

And in a new forecast released Tuesday, it projects Canada’s labour market advantage over the United States will all but vanish by the end of 2014, when both countries will post unemployment rates of 6.7 per cent.

The report on unemployment among advanced economies by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development largely gives high marks to Canada for jobs growth since the devastating 2008-09 recession.

It notes the unemployment rate has dropped from a recession peak of 8.5 per cent to the current 7.1 per cent, and projects it will fall further, to 6.7 per cent by the end of 2014.

The U.S. currently reports a 7.6 per cent jobless rate, and it too will fall to 6.7 per cent by the end of next year, the organization predicts.

But in a section dealing with Canada, the OECD points out that longterm unemployment — those who have been unable to find work for at least one year — has yet to decline.

Those out of work for 53 weeks or more numbered just over 40,000 prior to the 2008-09 recession, but hovered between 92,000 and 112,000 this year, according to the latest Statistics Canada data.

A possible reason, the OECD said, is that employers often prefer to hire new labour market entrants and the short-term unemployed.

“The (report) argues that public labour market programs need to provide targeted assistance to the long-term unemployed to help them find new jobs or access to training that will improve their employability,” the OECD states.