Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson is Senior Policy Adviser to the Broadbent Institute. This article originally appeared on the Globe & Mail's Economy Lab.

Minorities face higher unemployment rates

Jun 272013

Features

New National Household Survey reveals racialized persons less likely to be hired.

by Andrew Jackson

The Census — replaced by the National Household Survey in 2011 — is our key source of information for “visible minority” persons, best known as racialized persons (since race is a social rather than biological concept) and since “minorities” make up close to the majority of the population in the large urban centres of Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.

In 2011, one in five (19.1 percent) of all Canadians belonged to visible minority groups, up from one in six (16.2 percent) in 2006. Almost one quarter of young people age 20 to 24 belong to a visible minority group.

Ottawa needs to step up on skills training

Mar 182013

Workplaces

The government doesn't even know what kinds of jobs are vacant.

by Andrew Jackson

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty thinks the provinces are wasting $2 billion in federal funding to support worker training, and says skills training will be “a priority of the budget.” While employers tend to exaggerate the real extent of skills and labour shortages, there is no doubt that dealing with the growing issue of “jobs without people” is of central importance.