Unemployment, Employment, and Non-Participation in Canadian Labour Markets

Kenneth M. Glazier was Chief Librarian Emeritus at the University of Calgary, Alberta.

In spite of the fact that unemployment is an important public issue, with over a million unemployed in Canada (most of them pessimistic about finding any jobs in the foreseeable future), it is remarkable how little the problem has been studied, how poorly its causes are understood, and how few concrete proposals are made to overcome the malady. During the 1970s and to a lesser degree in the 1980s, the dominant view about the main cause of unemployment was that workers were reluctant to take up the jobs that were available. It was also argued that the unemployment rate was kept high because large numbers of persons flowed into the unemployed state, stayed there for a short while, and then found jobs.

This treatise is a serious study of the problem of unemployment by two well-qualified authors, both of whom are on the staff of the Economic Council of Canada. An impressive array of statistics in tables, graphics, and charts is supplemented by an extensive bibliography for additional reading. The emphasis is on the nature of the problem rather than the form of the solution. The authors’ research shows that high-frequency, short-duration unemployment is not the major explanation of high unemployment rates. Instead, it is the relative scarcity of jobs that appears to be the main culprit. This is a worthwhile documentation of the nature of unemployment in Canada.