Employment edges down in November: StatsCan • Payroll earnings decrease slightly in September: StatsCan • CRA board of management reveals two new board members • Nova Scotia proposes unpaid leave for workers to attend citizenship ceremony
Employment edges down in November: StatsCan
OTTAWA — Following a decrease in October, employment edged down 19,000 in November while the unemployment rate rose by 0.1 percentage points to 7.4 per cent, accord- ing to Statistics Canada. Despite the recent declines, employment was up 1.2 per cent (212,000) from 12 months earlier. A decline of 53,000 in part-time work was partial- ly offset by an increase of 35,000 in full-time work. Com- pared with one year earlier, the number of part-time workers was down 1.9 per cent (62,000), while full-time employment grew by two per cent (274,000). Employment declined in Quebec and Saskatchewan in November, while it increased in Nova Scotia. There was little change in the other provinces. Over the same period, the total number of hours worked increased at the same rate as total employment (1.2 per cent), according to the Labour Force Survey. Compared with one year earlier, most of the employment growth was among private sector employees (1.9 per cent), as employment was little changed among public sector employees, up 0.4 per cent, and the self-employed, down 0.3 per cent.
Payroll earnings decrease slightly in September: StatsCan
OTTAWA — Average weekly earnings of non-farm payroll employees declined 0.3 per cent to $872.75 in September, partly offsetting a 0.8 per cent increase in August. Earnings have been relatively flat since the beginning of 2011, according to Statistics Canada. On a year-over-year basis, average weekly earnings rose 1.1 per cent, the smallest increase since November 2009. The year-over-year increase reflects factors such as wage growth and changes in the composition of employment by industry, by occupation and by level of job experience. Average hours worked per week can also influence growth in year-over-year earnings. However, the average work week was unchanged in the 12 months to September at 33 hours. Average weekly hours increased 0.3 per cent from August to September.
CRA board of management reveals two new board members
OTTAWA — The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) board of management has announced the appointments of Luce Samoisette and Richard Thorpe to the board. Samoisette was nominated by Quebec and Thorpe was nominated by British Columbia. As president of the University of Sherbrooke, Samoisette has a wealth of experience in academia and the business community, is a published author and has been a member of the Chambre des notaires du Québec for many years, according to Minister of National Revenue Gail Shea. As a former member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly, with a portfolio that has included various business and tax issues, Thorpe will also be a valuable addition to the CRA board of management, said Shea. While the minister of nation- al revenue retains full accountability to parliament and to Canadian citizens for all CRA activities, the board of management is responsible for overseeing the organization and administration of the agency and the manage- ment of its resources, services, property, personnel and contracts. The board brings a forward-looking, strategic perspective to the CRA’s operations and fosters sound management and service delivery, according to the CRA. The act to establish the CRA specifies the establishment of a board of management. The board is made up of 15 members, including the chair, the commissioner, 11 directors nominated by the provinces and territories and two directors nominated by the federal government. All members are appointed by the governor in council. The act requires that each director nominated by a province or a territory must be selected by the governor in council from a list of nominees submitted by the minister respon- sible for revenue administration in the province or the territory or by another minister that the province or the territory designates.
Nova Scotia proposes unpaid leave for workers to attend citizenship ceremony
HALIFAX — Nova Scotia has introduced legislation that would give employees unpaid leave to attend their Cana- dian citizenship ceremony. Bill 115, which was introduced by Marilyn More, the province's minister of labour and advanced education, and underwent first reading on Nov. 28, would amend the province’s Labour Standards Code. If passed, new Canadians would be entitled to an unpaid leave of “up to, at the employee’s option, a maximum of one day on the day of and to attend a citizenship ceremo- ny to receive the employee’s certificate of citizenship.” It also requires the employee to give 14 days’ notice — or as much notice as is “reasonably practicable” — of the date of the ceremony and the time the employee will be away from work to attend the ceremony. It stipulates employ- ers can ask employees to provide evidence of the date of the citizenship ceremony and any employee who is denied leave or the opportunity to resume work on account of taking such leave can file a complaint. Workers in Manitoba have a similar unpaid leave to attend ceremonies, but only up to four hours.
