Posts by Michael Willcox
The great remote work debate: Does it boost or bust productivity? It depends.
Listen to this article as an audio recording The debate around remote work is alive and well, and it’s given us all a lot to talk about, including fun new acronyms like WFH (“work from home”) and RTO (“return-to-office”). With a growing number of return-to-office mandates in Canada and labour productivity on the decline, whether…Read More
Demystifying the links between rate hikes, inflation and a tight labour market
Listen to this blog as an audio recording After pausing increases to its overnight rate in January, the Bank of Canada announced another hike this Wednesday. By adjusting the overnight rate, the bank aims to dampen aggregate demand (total demand for goods and services), free up the labour market, and nudge the economy back onto…Read More
Closing the labour market gap: Approaches to addressing Canada’s job vacancies
Listen to this blog as an audio recording In a previous blog post, we discussed Canada’s tight labour market and the challenges it poses for policy-makers and the economy. We highlighted the demographic dynamics contributing to the tight labour market, including an aging labour force and low fertility rates. We also noted some supply-side solutions-such…Read More
Tight labour markets are here to stay — we’d better start planning for them
Job vacancies remain at record highs in Canada, totaling nearly one million in August 2022 (the latest data available). Although vacancies seem to have plateaued, they remain roughly 80% higher than pre-pandemic levels. The labour force has grown much more modestly – leading to one of the tightest labour markets in Canadian history. This unprecedented…Read More
Developing Indicators for Skill Demand
In this technical paper, LMIC outlines three approaches to developing indicators for skill demand using online job posting data.Read More
Tailor-Made LMI for Career-Related Decisions
People need labour market information (LMI)-such as details about wages, skill requirements and job vacancies-to make informed career, education and hiring decisions. Unfortunately, most Canadians report being unable to use LMI because it isn’t tailored to their specific needs. Different priorities in how LMI is curated and presented can lead to information that isn’t relevant…Read More
Rural and Urban Employment Impacted Differently by COVID-19
Across Canada, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented job losses. Employment fell by 0.4% (-73,500) in April and remains 2.2% (–422,750) below the pre-pandemic employment level in February 2020. The loss and partial recovery in employment has followed different patterns based on where workers live. As of April 2021, large cities remain the furthest…Read More