Roundup: The July job numbers

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The Labour Force Survey results for July were released yesterday, and while there was positive job growth, it wasn’t quite as robust as had been expected. The recovery remains uneven, but some of the narratives and commentary aren’t really helping when it comes to adjusting to the reality of this stage of the pandemic (which isn’t even post- yet).

A lot of the narratives are still being driven by the likes of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, which continues to rail about CERB and its successor suite of benefits that they claim are providing a “perverse incentive” for people to stay home, but that doesn’t seem to fit the reality, which is that the market is shifting. A lot of people who were in these service-industry jobs either moved on during the pandemic because it (and the government benefits) afforded them the opportunity to do so – which is why you have people complaining that their favoured servers at their local watering holes didn’t come back, and you have nineteen-year-olds who just got their Smart Serve certification replacing them. But another narrative is also bubbling up, where we also have a cohort who aren’t willing to go back to what existed beforehand, with the low wages and mistreatment, and a lot of those business owners haven’t made the cognitive leap yet that they can’t keep operating the way they did before. Of course, this is one reason why the CFIB is so up in arms about these benefits – they have a vested interest in things returning to the old normal where labour can be exploitative without consequence, but the current reality is changing that. This could be change happening that will be better for us all overall, if it’s able to take hold – and chances are, this government more than others are more willing to let it happen.

The Conservatives, meanwhile, are insistent that the federal government is “killing job creation,” which is a novel argument considering that they’re not the level of government responsible for the maintenance of public health measures (which has been one of the biggest determinants of economic activity over the course of the pandemic). They’re also keeping up the fiction that a pre-third wave job recovery projection was a “promise” about job creation, again, which was derailed by more public health measures because provinces screwed up their own recoveries by re-opening too soon. All of which is to say that we don’t seem to be capable of having a reasonable conversation about what is happening in the labour market, to the detriment of all of us.

Good reads:

  • A tentative deal has been reached with the border guards’ union after a day of work-to-rule job action.
  • The Pfizer vaccine’s label is being updated to include Bell’s Palsy as a potentially rare side-effect; Moderna’s label was already updated with the same.
  • The Canadian Forces National Investigation Service concluded their investigation into Admiral Art McDonald without laying any charges around sexual misconduct.
  • The Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson is launching an investigation into claims that the CRA is unfairly targeting Muslim charities for audits.
  • Beverley McLachlin says she’s staying on Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal to help preserve the last bastion of intact democracy in the territory.
  • Here’s a look at some retiring MPs and the ridings they leave behind, which could be in play for different parties than currently hold them.
  • Erin O’Toole outlined a “bold plan” around international human rights, with a side of Green Lantern Theory for foreign credentials recognition.
  • Conservative Senator Linda Frum has announced that she will retire from the Senate at the end of August.
  • BC’s privacy commissioner is investigating the federal Liberals’ use of facial recognition in their nomination vote process.
  • Lindsay Tedds dismantles the Alberta government’s talking points about the supposed “unfairness” of the federal terms for child care funding.
  • Philippe Lagassé walks through the principles of Responsible Government to demonstrate why Andrew Coyne and company are wrong about dissolution.
  • Paul Wells contemplates the announcement of an upcoming summit on long-term growth, and why these particular groups are coalescing to hold it.
  • My weekend column looks at how difficult it will be to have a genuine conversation on “building back better” in the election given the entrenched narratives.

Odds and ends:

For the CBA’s National Magazine, I look into the government’s consultation on whether or not to extend copyright protection to AI-generated works.

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