Labour market advisory panel named; More jobs for people with disabilities; Share of workers with pension declines; Sask. to fast-track foreign credentials
Labour market advisory panel named
Ottawa — Toronto-Dominion Bank chief economist Don Drummond has been named to head a five-member panel that will advise governments on labour market information. The panel, which will also address skilled labour shortages and the aging workforce, is expected to report back to labour ministers in the spring of 2009.
More jobs for people with disabilities
Ottawa — People with disabilities have seen their employment rate increase from 49.3 per cent in 2001 to 53.5 per cent in 2006, according to a Statistics Canada report. It found the biggest growth was among people with learning disabilities. The employment rate among people with no disabilities is 75.1 per cent.
Share of workers with pension declines
Ottawa — While the share of Canadian workers with an employer-registered pension plan continues to fall, from 38.5 per cent in 2005 to 38.1 per cent in 2006, there were 77,000 new pension plan members in 2006, an increase of 1.4 per cent from 2005, according to Statistics Canada. Women accounted for almost all of the new plan members, with those in the public sector comprising one-half of the new plan members.
Sask. to fast-track foreign credentials
Saskatoon — Immigrants to Saskatchewan with foreign training in mechanical trades will soon be able to get their credentials certified before coming to Canada. Under a pilot program funded by Human Resources and Social Development, the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology will establish a system for verifying credentials and job experience in three targeted markets: Ukraine, Philippines and Vietnam.
