Navigating Precarious Employment

in Canada: Who is Really at Risk?

Francis Fong
Chief Economist
January 2018
Non-standard work seems not as big a problem at first blush

Part-time and Temporary Employment in Canada

% of total employment
22%
Part-time
Temporary
20%

18%

16%

14%

12%

10%
1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016

Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey; table 282-0002, 282-0080

But devil is in the details

Part-time Employment Share by Sector

Percentage point change in % share of total employment, 1993-2016

8%

6%

4%

2%

0%

-2%

-4%

-6%

-8%

Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey; table 282-0008

Three key sectors reveal there may be pockets of risk

Temporary Employment Share by Sector

Percentage point change in % share of total employment, 1997-2016

10%
8%
6%
4%
2%
0%
-2%
-4%
-6%
-8%

Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey; table 282-0080

Certain demographic groups disproportionately represented in part-time

Part-time Employment by Age Group and Sex

Percentage point change in part-time % of total employment, 1993-2016

15%

Men Women
10%

5%

0%

-5%

-10%

-15%

Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey; table 282-0002

And increasingly among higher-educated individuals

Part-time Employment by Sex and Educational Attainment, 15-24 year olds

Percentage point change in part-time % of total employment, 1993-2016

14%
12%
10%
8%
6%
4%
2%
0%
-2%
Men Women
-4%
-6%

Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey; table 282-0004

Temporary work concentrated among both younger and older
workers; particularly women
Temporary Employment by Class and Sex

Percentage point change in % share of total employment, 1997-2016

8%
Men Women
7%

6%

5%

4%

3%

2%

1%

0%

-1%

Total Temporary Term/contract Casual

Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey; table 282-0080
 See more at:
www.cpacanada.ca/precariouswork
Canada’s Changing
Labour Market
Sunil Johal @johalsunil
IRPP – January 2018
Policies and programs that are integral to the well-
being of Canadians remain intimately tied to
conventional ideas of employment, despite a new
economy that demands new approaches.

1
Longer-term trends
• Unequal prosperity
• Rise of precarious work
• Declining unionization

2
Unequal Prosperity
Income inequality continues to grow
by all measures

Canada’s top 1% of earners

accounted for 37% of the country’s
overall income growth between 1981
and 2010

3
Unequal Prosperity
The “Great Decoupling”
implies that while the
economy continues to
grow, wages have
remained mostly stagnant
for almost 30 years

4
Rise of precarious work
The standard employment relationship - characterized by full-
time hours, permanency and benefits - is becoming increasingly
rare

5
Rise of precarious work
Non-standard jobs tend to be lower wage, and significantly less
likely to be tied to various employer benefits

6
Declining unionization
• Unions have historically played important role in establishing
decent wages, reasonable workday length and safe
workplaces
• The rate of unionization has fallen from 37.6% in 1981 to
28.8% in 2014
• As the relationship between employer and employee
changes, expectations of each becomes less clear

7
Emerging Issues
• Unique nature of the digital economy
• Automation of industry
• Living in an on-demand society

8
Understanding the new economy:
Emerging Issues
• Unique nature of the digital economy
• Increasingly firms are characterized by powerful
network effects, low barriers to entry and fewer full-
time employees
• Living in an on-demand society
• New business models often blur boundaries of who
is considered an employee (e.g. increase use of
independent contractor classification)

9
Automation of industry

10
Automation of industry
Many studies have
attempted to estimate
the size of job loss due
to automation across
various jurisdictions,
using different
methodologies

11
Living in an on-demand society
New and emerging digital
platforms easily connect
those looking for short-term
work, many of which use
alternative worker
classifications such as
“independent contractor”

12
 @johalsunil
sunil@mowatcentre.ca

Stay Connected

13
OCWI - January 2018

Wendy Vuyk
Regional Coordinator, Eastern Region
Core Activities

2
Focused Priorities

• In December 2016, as part of a strategic priority-setting exercise, we asked EO providers

to share their perspectives on, and experiences with, service delivery. We connected with
more than 200 employees at more than 130 service providers; all positions were
represented.

• The insights gained from these discussions informed our approach on our research focus,
knowledge transfer, and capacity-building, and to ensure that our initiatives meet the
needs of service providers and their partners/networks.

• We focused our priorities around three dominant areas we heard: integrated approaches
to service delivery, employer engagement and client-centric service delivery.

3
Workforce of the Future

• Fourth industrial revolution

• Global world of work; up to 3 billion new users will join the internet in the
near future
• Rapid change and inability to accurately predict the careers of the future
• 65% of today’s elementary school-aged children will work in jobs that don’t yet
exist
How to Prepare

• Entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, and intrapreneurs

• Unprecedented change
• Cultural awareness and sensitivity
• Soft skills and the ability to self-manage
• Be a polymath
Employers

• Forecasted labour shortages will cause employers to adapt and revise their
hiring practices in order to attract and retain talent
• Some employers are already becoming more flexible and progressive in their
hiring practices
Stay connected with OCWI

@OCWI_COIE

@OCWICOIE

@OCWICOIE

www.ocwi-coie.ca