TOP Report 2008

The TTB would like to thank all those who participated in this year's TOP process. We look forward to your feedback on the report that will be available on line by early February, 2009.

Best Wishes for a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

Labour Market News

Labour Force Survey

The Daily
Statistics Canada
December 5, 2008

Steep declines in Ontario

The largest employment declines in November were in Ontario, down 66,000. Full-time workers and men 25 and over were most affected. Ontario's unemployment rate jumped to 7.1% in November from 6.5% the month before. Since the start of the year, employment in Ontario has grown by 0.5%. In Ontario, the steepest employment decline in November was in manufacturing. Since 2002, the start of the downward trend, this sector's share of employment in Ontario has fallen from 18.2% to 13.0%.

Toronto: Poor City Beside Rich City

Toronto Star
David Hulchanski
November 20, 2008

Many people today are working more than full-time and are poor. They have no choice but to live in the growing number of very poor neighbourhoods. Money buys choice. Many neighbourhoods are becoming poor in the sense that most of the residents are living in poverty, and poor in the sense that housing, public services and transit access are all inferior relative to the rest of the city. The growing polarization between rich and poor is happening in part because of the loss of average, middle-income jobs.There used to be far fewer concentrations of disadvantage in Toronto. In the early 1970s about two-thirds of the City of Toronto's neighbourhoods (66 per cent) were middle-income – within 20 per cent of the average individual in-come of the metropolitan area. By 2005, the middle income group of neighbourhoods had declined to less than one-third (29 per cent).

More Working Canadians Using Food Banks: Study

CTV .ca
November 25, 2008

The percentage of working Canadians who use food banks is at its highest level ever, says a new report. In its HungerCount 2008 study, Food Banks Canada reported that of all households assisted by food banks, those with income from employment have grown from 11.9 per cent in 2002 to 14.5 per cent in 2008. Seven of 10 provinces, accounting for 72 per cent of the national population, saw an increase in the proportion of food bank users who were working in 2008, the report said.

Immigrants

Established Immigrants Increasingly Stuck In Low-Education Jobs, Study F inds

Could a recession prevent university-educated immigrants from finding a career in Canada? A new report from Statistics Canada reveals that the proportion of degree-holding immigrants who ended up working as store clerks and taxi drivers even after living in Canada for more than a decade rose significantly after the last recession in the early 1990s.The report found that it was much harder for "established" immigrants - those who had lived in Canada for 11 to 15 years - to find jobs that matched their education level in 2006 than in 1991.

Youth

Students Sign On To Their Future

Inside Toronto
Joana Lavoie
December 11, 2008

Seven students from St. Paul's Catholic School in the Corktown area are set to receive a new computer system, free Internet and an e-mail "e-buddy" mentor through the Merry Go Round Children's Foundation's (MGR) Kids, Cops and Computers program. The youths, their supervisors, several officers as well as the program's directors gathered at 51 Division to launch the initiative locally. This school year, Kids, Cops and Computers is being run through eight Toronto Police Service divisions namely 14, 23, 31, 41, 43, 33, Headquarters, and 51. A total of 130 Grade 7 students from 10 public and Catholic schools in high-priority neighbourhoods in Toronto are participating in the program for the 2008-2009 school year.

Women

More Women In Pharmacy, Medicine: Study

The Canadian Press
December 3, 2008

It’s no surprise that women dominate health-care occupations in Canada, but a new study attaches some numbers to the situation. In a recent study, the Canadian Institute for Health Information says women make up about 80 per cent of the health-care workforce.
Women continue to dominate in nursing, physiotherapy and occupational therapy, and their ranks are increasing in male-dominated health-care professions. Last year, the institute says 56 per cent of family doctors under age 40 were women, while in the 60-and-over group, only 15 per cent of family doctors were women. And 64 per cent of pharmacists under 40 last year were women. Female occupational therapists and physiotherapists work fewer hours in their 30s and 40s compared to men.

Education

Humber Courses Go Green

Toronto Metro
Noelle Munaretto
December 2, 2008

Educators at Humber College’s Urban Ecology Centre, through a series of new courses and certificate programs, have made it their mission to equip future generations with a wealth of environmental knowledge.
The 13 courses are three hours in length and touch upon everything from ecosystems theory to environmental literacy. They can also be used towards two certificates of participation: Thinking Environmentally and Environmental Education.
The courses will be held in Humber’s 5,000-sq.-ft. Centre for Urban Ecology, which boasts a slew of environmentally-friendly design features, such as passive solar heat sources and a green roof. Opened in April 2007, the space received prestigious LEED Gold certification from the Canada Green Building Council.

Other News

Hope Lies Within IT And Health

Toronto Metro
Robyn Young
December 3, 2008

With the recent economic downturns, it’s hard not to worry about employment. Career services experts in Canada say there are still jobs to be had for those with the right skills and the country’s employment situation isn’t as bad as the headlines might suggest. Economic downturn or not, there are sectors that continue to thrive and search out new hires like technology, and health care. Many companies are now looking for employees with more specified skills in IT. In addition, employees with accounting skills are in high demand, says the director at People Source, an employment solutions company in Toronto.

Trades Steady On Job Market

Toronto Metro
Robyn Young
December 13, 2008

The aviation and aerospace maintenance industry in Canada is facing a massive shortage of skilled workers. By 2017, one expert predicts the field will see a shortage of skilled workers equal to the size of the workforce today — approximately 150,000. Despite air travel numbers falling during the first half of 2008 because of high fuel costs, the executive-director of the Aviation Maintenance Council says it was a short-lived blip and aviation and aerospace production continues to grow.
“Everybody’s projecting somewhere between four- and six-per-cent growth in the industry,” said Robert Donald.
The aviation maintenance industry is not alone in its projected shortage. From trades such as carpentry to electrical technicians to plumbing, Canada is in dire need of skilled employees.

VOLUME 11
November 2008

Bridge Employment

Statistics Canada
Benoît-Paul Hébert and May Luong
November 24, 2008

Retirement is a process rather than a discrete event. Many older workers who start receiving a pension stay in the labour market in some capacity for roughly two to three years before they completely cease employment. And many who quit paid work at one point subsequently return to the labour market, especially in the first year after leaving their career job. For a substantial proportion of older workers, this `bridge employment appears to be a choice rather than a necessity.

The Returns To Schooling On Academic Performance

Statistics Canada
Marc Frenette
November 7, 2008

This study estimates the effect of an additional year of schooling (Grade 10) on academic performance, with the particular aim of understanding the role of schooling in shaping the gender and income divides in academic performance. To identify the returns to schooling, the study takes advantage of a setting whereby standardized tests were administered to large samples of students of very close age, but who were in different school grades as a result of school-entry laws, thus creating a sharp discontinuity in school grades. The findings suggest that one additional year of high school (Grade 10) is associated with a large improvement in overall reading and mathematics performance, and that it had a smaller improvement in science performance.

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