Have Job? Will Travel

Blair is supposed to go back to work in Alberta January 3rd, but I really wonder if that will happen;

(Gawd I hate EI living)


Canadian Press: Canada loses 70,600 jobs in a month, most since 1982: unemployment 6.3 per cent
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5h36Jc4MqN976wSOaAcKitw3j3T5g

Swelling ranks of Canadian workers fell victim to the slowing economy last month as the country chopped 70,600 employees - 66,000 in Ontario - the most since the deep recession of 1982. Statistics Canada said Friday the job losses lifted the official unemployment rate to 6.3 per cent, from 6.2 per cent in October. The labour force had been holding out against the deteriorating economy - which many believe has entered a recession - but November's rout came as somewhat of a surprise.

The consensus among economists had been for a 20,000 labour force retreat, and even the most pessimistic had put the losses in the 40,000 range. November's result cut deeply in the job creation record for the year, bringing the accumulated gain to 133,000, well below's last year's 361,000 January-through-November improvement. The battered manufacturing sector was mostly responsible for the job bleeding in Ontario with a decline of 42,000. That took the factory sector's share of employment in the province to 13 per cent - down from 18.2 per cent six years ago. Overall, there were 38,000 fewer factory workers in Canada, as there was a slight net gain in the category in other provinces.

But then some local news in the trades;

Education Minister Joan Burke says recent changes to the journeyperson to apprentice ratio in the province will give greater flexibility to employers, and will increase the number of people able to gain valuable worksite training. Burke says government has accepted the recommendation of the Provincial Apprenticeship and Certification Board to allow for a final year apprentice to be hired. That's in addition to each journeyperson apprentice ratio an employer currently has. Burke says if the current ratio is already with a final year apprentice, the employer can hire a first, second or third year apprentice. She says this further adds to the province's initiatives for skilled labour enhancement which has seen a 15 per cent increase in the number of apprentices since 2007 and 35 per cent increase in the number of women involved in non traditional trades since 2004. The Official Opposition and the NDP both applaud the decision as recognition of the need for training in the province.

Further to this: http://www.releases.gov.nl.ca/releases/2008/edu/1203n08.htm