-
‘Official’ Unemployment Just the Tip of the Iceberg
This commentary was originally published in the Toronto Star. Statistics Canada has just released its monthly labour force report for April. It’s the first monthly release that captures the full extent of the COVID shutdowns; the previous report (which covered one week in mid-March) reflected only the initial stages of pandemic-related closures. By the time Statistics Canada did its April survey (during the week of April 12-18), millions of workers had stopped working. Not surprisingly, the numbers are grim. 2.4 million Canadians were counted as officially unemployed in April. That’s 13.0% of the labour force – bad by any definition. However, that statistic is only the tip of the iceberg.…
-
A New ‘Marshall Plan’ to Rebuild After the Pandemic
Centre for Future Work Director Jim Stanford was recently interviewed on CBC News Network to discuss his proposal for a massive, government-led rebuilding plan to support the economy’s re-opening once the immediate health emergency of COVID-19 has passed. He stressed that private sector businesses will not be able to lead a normal ‘cyclical’ recovery, given the unprecedented speed and severity of the current downturn. Government will need to play a leading role in sponsoring new investment, permanently expanding public services, and expanding direct public job creation to help repair the shattered labour market. His conversation with CBC’s Natasha Fatah is posted here.
-
Quantitative Easing: What It Is and What It Could Mean
The Bank of Canada has finally joined other central banks around the world in undertaking an ambitious “quantitative easing” (QE) program to support credit flows and reduce interest rates during the current health emergency and economic crisis. Our Director Jim Stanford has prepared an accessible introduction to QE and how it works. He also makes 4 specific proposals for extending and strengthening the practice. This research was originally published by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Making the Most of Quantitative Easing With the COVID-19 recession getting deeper by the day, the Bank of Canada has joined other central banks in quickly reducing its target interest rate to near zero,…
-
Recovery from Pandemic Will Need an Ambitious Rebuilding Plan
The unprecedented shutdown of much of the economy to limit spread of the coronavirus is not like an “ordinary” recession – and recovering from it will require powerful leadership from government. Director Jim Stanford compares it to recovering from a war, and argues for an equivalent to the Marshall Plan that helped western Europe rebuild after World War II. This article was originally published by the Institute for Research on Public Policy. A Marshall Plan to Rebuild after Coronavirus Economic policy-makers have been understandably focused on addressing the immediate economic shocks from the COVID-19 pandemic: developing new income supports for the millions who will need them, stabilizing the credit system…
-
Policy Response to Pandemic: Go Big, Go Fast
The health emergency created by the COVID-19 pandemic is of course the primary concern of Canadians, and the first priority for government to address. But it is increasingly clear that the economic fallout from the pandemic is also going to constitute an emergency. And it requires government to respond as urgently and powerfully in the economic sphere, as they are attempting for public health. Director Jim Stanford took stock of the breadth and scale of the economic fallout from the pandemic, in this analysis (originally published by the Progressive Economics Forum). Responding to an Unprecedented Downturn Here are some quick thoughts on what we can expect in coming months, the…