J21 - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure

• The US Labour Market: How Much Slack Remains?

  Staff Analytical Note 2016-9 Robert Fay, James Ketcheson

  Despite the US unemployment rate being close to estimates of the non-accelerating-inflation rate of unemployment (NAIRU), measures of underemployment remain elevated, which could be an indication of remaining labour market slack. The shares of involuntary part-time workers and long-term unemployment are high relative to the current stage of the business cycle, suggesting available labour inputs are being underutilized.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Analytical Notes Topic(s): International topics, Labour markets, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, J, J2, J21, J23

• Extending the Labour Market Indicator to the Canadian Provinces

  Staff Discussion Paper 2016-2 Alexander Fritsche, Katherine Ragan

  Calculating the labour market indicator (LMI) at the provincial level provides useful insights into Canada’s regional economies and reveals differing trends in the state of underlying labour market conditions across provinces. Conclusions based on the Canadian LMI do not necessarily translate to the provinces. In most cases, the correlations between the provincial LMIs and the underlying labour market variables have the expected sign.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Discussion Papers Topic(s): Labour markets, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, E27, J, J2, J21, J23

• Changing Labour Market Participation Since the Great Recession: A Regional Perspective

  Staff Discussion Paper 2015-2 Calista Cheung, Dmitry Granovsky, Gabriella Velasco

  This paper discusses broad trends in labour force participation and part-time employment across different age groups since the Great Recession and uses provincial data to identify changes related to population aging, cyclical effects and other factors.

  Content Type(s): Staff Research, Staff Discussion Papers Topic(s): Labour markets, Recent economic and financial developments, Regional economic developments JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, E3, E32, J, J1, J2, J21, J6

• 13 May 2014 Beyond the Unemployment Rate: Assessing Canadian and U.S. Labour Markets Since the Great Recession

  Bank of Canada Review - Spring 2014 Konrad Zmitrowicz, Mikael Khan

  This article provides a broad perspective on the performance of the labour market in Canada and the United States since the Great Recession. It also presents a simple way to summarize much of this information in a single composite labour market indicator (LMI) for both countries. The LMI suggests that the unemployment rate in Canada has evolved largely in line with overall labour market conditions since the recession, but may have modestly overstated the extent of recent improvement. The U.S. unemployment rate, in contrast, appears to have substantially overstated the post-recession improvement in labour market conditions.

  Content Type(s): Publications, Bank of Canada Review Article Topic(s): International topics, Labour markets, Recent economic and financial developments JEL Code(s): E, E2, E24, J, J2, J21, J23