(The following article is from the June 1-15, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

     Thousands of workers were forced to turn to self-employment in April 2009 because they can't find jobs or get Employment Insurance, says the Canadian Labour Congress, which is joining with the Toronto and York Region Labour Council and the Good Jobs For All Coalition to organize a major rally in Toronto.

     The "Good Jobs For All" rally will start at 1 pm, Saturday, June 13, from Metro Hall, on King Street between University Ave. and John Street. As many as 10,000 people are expected to take part, demanding that governments take action to fix the Employment Insurance system, protect pensions, and "deal with greedy banks."

     Responding to recent Statistics Canada figures for April, CLC president Ken Georgetti said, "We're seeing unemployed workers, especially older workers, turning to self-employment in desperation. There is little out there in the way of job creation and far too many people can't get Employment Insurance."

     While the official level of employment increased by 35,900, this was due entirely to the rise in self-employment, since the Canadian economy actually lost 1,100 jobs in April.

     Statistics Canada data also shows that almost 60% of unemployed workers are not receiving EI benefits. Georgetti said there is a growing consensus in favour of EI reform. "People are telling pollsters that EI should be improved, newspapers are saying the same thing, and the opposition parties are threatening an election on the issue. The Prime Minister and his cabinet are the only ones who seem prepared to allow unemployed Canadians to fend for themselves."

     The CLC has repeatedly called on the government to change accessibility rules to provide regular EI benefits on the basis of 360 hours of work, to make all workers eligible for up to 50 weeks of EI benefits, and to raise benefits immediately to 60% of a worker's best 12 weeks of earnings.

     The unemployment rate remained at 8.0% in April, despite the fact that an additional 8,000 Canadians were unemployed. The broadest measure of unemployment (R8), which includes discouraged workers and involuntary part-time workers, is rising rapidly, from 8.0% in October 2008 to 12.4% in March 2009. (These data are not seasonally adjusted, but the "real" rate of unemployment was also up sharply compared to March 2008). Canada now has over 1,464,600 unemployed, an increase of 27.2% since last October, with 347,400 full-time jobs lost during that period.

     Another negative trend is that the participation rate is falling, from 67.8% in October 2008 to 67.4% in March 2009. Meanwhile, the proportion of part-time workers in the labour force rose from 18.6% to 19.0% between October and February. Over the last year, the percentage of part-timers saying they were in that status because of business conditions rose from 20.7% to 24.9%.