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This problem is also likely to remain for some time. Alberta business leaders’ future hiring expectations are slowly improving, but there are still more business leaders who expect to be reducing their employee count than raising it this year.
It’s not all bad news. Several major projects are underway in Alberta that will boost employment and for, four straight months, more new businesses have opened than closed in Alberta. As famous Alberta country artist Brett Kissel sings, “Tough times don’t last, tough people do.” But tough people need help too sometimes. Beyond the economic consequences, long-term unemployment will exacerbate Alberta’s looming mental health crisis.
What can be done? Here are three ideas:
First, the federal Emergency Wage Subsidy program needs to be maintained and enhanced with further support to the hardest-hit industries. Today that program is paying the equivalent of 64,000 Albertan salaries. Were it to end swiftly, we could easily see the true unemployment rate jump 3.5 points higher, into the 15 per cent range.
Second, is federal stimulus spending. The federal government has signalled that a $100-billion recovery program will be targeted at both economic and environmental benefits. With a high need for both employment and emissions reduction projects in Alberta, the opportunity to do some of the greatest good per dollar exists here. When one house on the street is on fire, that’s where you spray the water. In that same way, federal stimulus spending should go to the regions of the country with higher unemployment and world-class emissions reduction projects like carbon capture utilization and storage, and future energies like hydrogen and nuclear.
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