Online bulletin no. 16 – November 2015

Comité consultatif de lutte contre la pauvreté et l’exclusion sociale

Adapting the labour market to people

In the previous bulletin posted by the Comité consultatif de la lutte contre la pauvreté et l’exclusion sociale (CCLP), we discussed the importance of adapting employment assistance measures and services to the needs of individuals. In the same vein, we wonder whether society needs to devote greater efforts to adapt the labour market to the people available, instead of focusing above all on adapting persons who are out of work to labour market needs.

More often than not, employment integration is considered from the viewpoint of employers’ manpower needs and potential savings for financial assistance programs (social assistance and employment insurance). Thought on this issue focuses much less frequently on improving people’s economic conditions and local and regional development. Our intention isn’t to oppose people’s characteristics with labour market needs: what we are trying to say is that all of these aspects are equally important, and the solutions that are put forward have to reconcile these imperatives.

Job creation

In 2014, there were 41,700job openings for 340,300unemployed persons in Québec, i.e.,one job for 8.2 individuals out of work.[1] The situation has deteriorated since 2011, when there were 5.7unemployed persons for each vacant position. Even if there were a perfect match between unemployed individuals’ qualifications and job requirements, a large number of citizens would still be out of work. At the same time, it is obvious thatindividuals who are the bestqualified in terms of training and experience are the best placed to be hired for available jobs.

Considerable emphasis is placed on developing people’s employability, but we should bank more on creating jobs that enable the inclusion of persons who are excluded from the labour market — in a word, job creation adapted to population profiles, particularly in areas with a high concentration of poverty. There are limits to training people solely to meet job requirements. We also need to support economic development at the service of people, rather than putting people at the service of economic development. For example, to this end, resources could be made available to help businesses implement mentoring programs and, by extension,hire less-qualifiedindividuals, or employers could be provided with assistance in assessing the qualifications actually required for a specific job (for instance,do candidates for a freight-handler position really need a secondary school diploma?).

Beyond training for individuals, we need to promote economic activities that meet communities’ needs. The social economy sector already offers job-creation possibilities in this area, and we also need to call on the traditional economy sector to make a contribution. In addition to economically profitable projects, the government should support initiatives that are socially acceptable, that is, projects that are conducive to employment integration for people who are having trouble entering the labour market. Another option that could be studied is including labour market insertion clauses in government contracts, in order to promote the hiring of persons excluded from the labour market.

Sustainable employment

When we look at the reasons why people apply for financial assistance, we see that a significant percentage of applicants have lost their job and are ineligible for employment insurance. In other cases, people’s employment insurance benefits are insufficient or their benefit-payment period has expired. We also know that for many of these individuals, periods of employment are followed by reliance on employment insurance and then social assistance benefits. In short, they are caught up in an endless spiral of increasing poverty. The people who are the most vulnerable to this vicious circle are those who are less educated or who experience discrimination due to factors such as their ethnic origin or a disability.

There are no two ways around it: labour market integration of the greatest number of individuals requires the creation of long-term jobs. If we want to reduce poverty through employment, we have to make sure that the jobs created are sustainable and of highquality — in other words, that they offer working conditions and wages that truly allow people to overcome poverty and achieve long-term security.

Precarious and low-paid jobs can sometimes be a springboard to a better situation. However, for people with less education, jobs likethis are often traps from which they have troubleescaping.

Priority on regions the most affected by unemployment and poverty

The economic situation varies widely from one region to another. According to the most recent interregional comparisons available (2010), the two regions with the highest low-income rates were Montréal (16.6%) and Nord-du-Québec (15.4%), compared with the Québec-wide average of 9.3%.[2] As for the social assistance rate, the most affected regions in April 2015 were Mauricie (9.8%), Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine (9.4%) and Montréal(8.2%). The Québec-wide average was 6.5%.[3] Regarding unemployment, the regions with the highest rates were Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, Montréal and Bas-Saint-Laurent.[4]

Jobs are created and lost locally. Enhanced support for regions with high unemployment and poverty rates is therefore essential. With this in mind, it is crucial to have a long-term local and regional development vision. Regions require access to the necessary structures and resources for true collaboration, in order to take responsibility for their own development.

Among other things, section 10 of the Act to combat poverty and social exclusion stipulates that, within the scope of its action to promote access to employment and increase the attractiveness of work, the government must, in concert with its partners, strive to intensify employment assistance so as to better support communities in their efforts to create employment. This is especially important in areas with a high concentration of poverty. The government and its partners also have to work to enhance the quality of jobs, so that workers receive an income adequate to provide an acceptable standard of living and enjoy better employment protection against the risks of exclusion.

That is the more inclusive Québec, with greater interregional equity, that we want to build.

With less poverty, all of us stand to gain immeasurably!

1

[1]. Statistics Canada, Job vacancy statistics (JVS), unemployment-to-job vacancies ratio by North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), province and territory, CANSIM table 284-0004. Statistics Canada defines “job vacancy / vacant position” as follows: A position is considered “vacant” if it meets all three of the following conditions: a specific position exists; work could start within 30 days; and the employer is actively seeking employees from outside the organization to fill the position.

[2].Guy Fréchet, Aline Lechaume, Richard Legris and Frédéric Savard, La pauvreté, les inégalités et l’exclusion sociale au Québec: état de situation 2013, Centre d’étude sur la pauvreté et l’exclusion sociale, 2014, p.16.

[3].Ministère du Travail, de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale, Direction de la statistique, de l'information de gestion et du suivi de la performance,Rapport statistique sur les clientèles des programmes d’assistance sociale, July 2015, p.1,

[4].André Levert, Catherine Ouellet and Paula Santos, Les chiffres clés de l’emploi au Québec, édition 2015,Emploi-Québec, p.72.