HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1988-10-05, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1988.
The International
Scene
Who is really
unemployed?
BY RAYMOND CANON
Each week I get a two page list of
economic indicators which tell me
what is going on in each of the
major industrial nations, including
Canada. There are a number of
important ones that 1 look at.
including the growth rates of the
money supply, the current account
balances and the trade balances
but the two that really catch my
attention are the inflation figures
as well as the number of unem
ployed in each country. Inflation I
will talk about later but the rate of
unemployment in Canada and
elsewhere is one that really attracts
my attention since it is interesting
to see just how many people are
working and how many are not.
However, 1 would like to suggest
that you take almost any figure on
unemployment that you see with
the proverbial grain of salt since
there are few economic statistics
that are more misleading. For
openers each country has what is
called the underground or black
economy which concerns those
jobs which are not recorded for
some reason or another. These are
people whogooutand find work
but do not declare their income to
any tax authorities so that they get
to keep all the money that they
earn. We have had cleaning ladies
at our house who would not under
any circumstances take any kind of
cheque; it was cash or nothing at
all. You and I both know why this is
so but this is a good example of
what I mean by the black economy.
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Let’s take a look at Spain.
According to my figures the rate of
unemployment is 20.1 percent
which in any economist’s terms
would signify a full-fledged de
pression. However, you are going
to look in vain for any real protest
by Spanish workers over the lack of
jobs to be had. You may ask why
and it doesn’t take long to discover
the answer. There are no less than
three million people or 29.7 per
centofthe working population who
are believed to be working without
declaring their income to the tax
collector. In the southern part of
the country in such provinces as
Andalusia, Estremadura and Cas
tile, it is calculated that over 30 per
cent of the workers are employed in
jobs that do not show up in any
statistics except the one that I am
giving you right now. Is it any
wonder that you seldom hear of
Spaniards starving or going on
strike? They don’t want to call
attention to their clandestine
activities.
Another thing to keep in mind is
that in most countries it is literally
impossible to get the rate of
unemploymentdown tozero. Some
people who might like to work are
for one reason or another unsuited
for the jobs that are being offered
and therefore cannot find employ
ment even in the midst of a labour
shortage. Others have been laid off
for one reason or another and are,
in effect, between jobs. Thus, we
have to get to the questions of what
constitutes full employment in any
country.
In Canada, which is a big country
and where job mobility is not what
it should be, economists consider
the figure to be about five per cent.
Since the current rate is 7.5 per
cent, this means that we have a true
rate of about 2.5 per cent. In a
country such as Switzerland which
is muchsmallerand which has a
widespread practice of exporting
or importing foreign workers as the
need arises or diminishes, the full
employment rate is very close to
zero. It is, therefore, not surprising
to learn that the current number of
benjamins
COMING
BRUSSELS
887-9740
Nov.l
Canada
people unemployed in that country
is so low as to almost zero.
This brings us to another point.
Each country has a different way in
calculatingjust who is working and
who is not. For this reason a figure
of, say, six per cent in two countries
will mean different things. In
Canada we would be quite happy
with that figure; in some other
country it would mean a higher
level of unemployment. You
should not really read too much
into any comparison in rates of
unemployment. As I indicated
above with Spain, the fact that so
many people are working in the
underground or black economy
means that, in spite of the 20 per
cent official figure, there may not
be many more Spaniards really out
of work than in Canada with its 7.5
per cent.
Thus, when a person says that he
or she cannot find work, there may
be more there than meets the eye.
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Don’t be late! Remember, November 1 is the
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Letter from the editor
Continued from page 4
dominated front pages around the
world.
Butjust when one is ready to turn
in his press card in disgust over the
excesses of the media there is a
shining example of the other side of
this business. I had a chance to see
the movie “A World Apart” the
other night. It’s the true story of a
young teenager and what she goes
through because of her parents’
passionate commitment to a cause.
It’s 1963 in South Africa and the
girl’s father, who would likely have
been thrown in jail to be kept there
without trial for his support of black
independence has fled the country.
The teenager’s mother, a jour
nalist, continues to report the
news, and support the blacks fight
against apartheid, despite the
danger. Finally she is arrested,
interrogated and threatened, and
kept in solitary confinement with
nothing but a Bible. She almost
breaks down but survives her 90
days. She goes outside the prison
walls long enough to make a phone
call for a ride home, only to be
arrested again and sent in for
another 90 days. A note at the end
of the movie says that 20 years after
all this, she was assassinated.
The journalist showed the good
side of the profession, the fight for
human rights and freedom in
which the free press plays such an
important role.
The problem is that, opportuni
ties for such an essential fight only
come now and then. In the
meantime there must be some
thing to fill the front pages of the
newspapers and the evening tele
vision news show and there must
be something to keep the journa
lists busy. The devil makes work
for idle hands, the old saying goes,
and reporters who are idle can
create their own stories.
Like most things, we have to
accept the bad with the good when
it comes to journalists.
Meet your perfect
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