PropertyValue
?:author
?:datePublished
  • 2019-07-23 (xsd:date)
?:headline
  • Job growth in Canada: popular meme peddles false figures (en)
?:inLanguage
?:itemReviewed
?:mentions
?:reviewBody
  • A meme shared thousands of times claims that the policies of Justin Trudeau's government created 6,613 jobs and that immigration contributed to a net job loss of 983,387 since 2015. This is false. The 6,613 figure comes from an article about one government jobs creation program and Statistics Canada data shows employment rose by more than one million between 2015 and 2019. One tweet jumped social media platforms when Facebook users began to share it as a screenshot on Facebook in July. It claims: The million jobs that Trudeau says he created, ended up only being 6,613. Over the past 4 years Trudeau brought in 500,000 immigrants, resulting in a net job loss of 983,387, not including the 100,000 jobs lost in the oil sector. Screenshot of a Facebook post taken on July 23, 2019 The original tweet links to an article by online media The Post Millennial, which tells a different story. The Post Millennial article is based on another article by online media Blacklock’s Reporter . Basing the article on an Access to Information request, Blacklock reported on July 15 that The Canadian Strategic Innovation Fund , a jobs creation program launched in 2017 by the Canadian Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, only produced 6,613 jobs since it launch in 2017. This contradicts Liberal Minister and program sponsor Navdeep Bains’ announcement that it created 56,000 jobs. AFP Fact-Check was not able to access the full Access to Information data from Blacklock’s Reporter, but a list of projects funded by the Canadian Strategic Innovation Fund has been published online since the publication of the article. The online numbers show a distinction between jobs created and jobs maintained. However, the June 4 press release from the minister did not make that distinction and simply mentioned the creation of 56,000 jobs. This number actually reflected the number of jobs created as well as those maintained. Dani Keenan, press secretary for the minister, told AFP that the department made a mistake and forgot that word, (maintained) and that other statements did say, jobs created and maintained. On July 23, the total for all jobs created and maintained for the program was nearly 61,000, but the net number of new jobs created was just over 10,000. Dani Keenan said that jobs maintained is a category that includes jobs that could have been cut without funds from the program. It is clear that the claims presented in the meme are unrelated to the article alongside which they were posted. The figures for immigrants and net job losses are also not accurate. Immigration to Canada The claim that 500,000 immigrants settled in Canada over the past four years is false. According to Statistics Canada’s annual demographic estimate, 239,800 immigrants arrived in Canada in 2014-2015 , 320,932 in 2015-2016 , 272,666 in 2016-2017 , 303,257 in 2017-2018 , for a total of just over 1.1 million. These numbers include non-permanent residents such as temporary workers. Meanwhile, the number of new permanent residents in Canada, which includes long-term immigrants sometimes arrived several years prior, totalled 1.17 million, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Jobs creation Statistics Canada’s seasonally adjusted data shows that the number of employed Canadians went from 15,752,066 in April 2015 to 16,906,247 in April 2019, which represents a net increase of 1,154,181 people employed over this four year period. The National Employment Report drafted by ADP Canada, a private company, shows that total nonfarm payroll employment in Canada went from 15,490,869 in April 2015 to 16,535,481 in April 2019, or 1,044,612 new jobs over that time period. The differences in numbers reflect the different methodologies used by Statistics Canada and ADP. Oil and gas sector Jobs in the oil and gas sector did decrease over the past four years, though not by 100,000. Between April 2015 and April 2019, 6,797 jobs were lost in that sector, as well as 17,734 jobs in support activities for mining, and oil and gas extraction, according to Statistic Canada’s Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours . Unemployment rate The unemployment rate has fallen across the board from 2014 to 2019. Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey shows that the unemployment rate for individuals 15 and over born in Canada fell from 6.8 percent in 2015 to 5.7 percent in 2018. For immigrants landed five or less years earlier, the unemployment rate also decreased from 12.9 to 9.4 percent over the same time period. (en)
?:reviewRating
rdf:type
?:url