Just The Facts: Long Term Unemployment Reaching 2008 Great Recession Levels

December 13, 2024
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ottawa, ON – After nine years, the NDP-Liberal Government has committed economic vandalism. This was confirmed yesterday by CIBC, which reported that “long-term unemployment [is] historically high,” reaching levels not seen since the 2008 Great Recession.

In fact, Canada’s economy has become so weak that the share of the workforce looking for a job for 27 weeks or more “recently hit levels not seen in the past decade,” excluding pandemic-related disruptions.

Earlier this month, Statistics Canada released their Labour Force Survey for November, showing that Canada’s unemployment had climbed to 6.8 percent. This is the highest the unemployment rate has been since 2017, excluding the pandemic, while youth unemployment rose by a full percentage point to 13.9 percent.

But as CIBC wrote in their report, “there’s more to the labour market than that single number, and a broader range of indicators points to a labour market that is ailing more than many now suspect.”

Under Justin Trudeau, Canada’s economy is teetering on the brink of collapse. The situation will only worsen when Trudeau’s capital gains tax arrives, which economist Jack Mintz predicts will reduce Canada’s GDP by $90 billion, real per capita GDP by 3 percent and employment by 414,000. On top of this, Trudeau’s carbon tax – which he plans to hike again in the spring – will lead to 57,000 fewer jobs by 2030, according to the Fraser Institute.

Justin Trudeau isn’t worth the cost. Only Common Sense Conservatives will axe the tax and fix the budget to bring home a strong economy for Canadians.