In Wednesday’s Post, there was a letter from an economist with the United Steelworkers, Erin Weir, claiming that there are no labour shortages. Today there may not be, although I would argue that Saskatchewan still has an unemployment rate so low that it is below the natural rate of unemployment. In recent years, all of the western provinces were below the natural rate and therefore suffering labour shortages.
The problem that this union economist (i.e. socialist) has is that she still appear to believe in the fairy tale of “full employment”.
Additionally, with the immigration rate near 150,000 working age persons per year, the decline in employment is not as severe as it might seem. It also won’t take long ( a year or two, perhaps) for Alberta and BC to be right back in the heat of economic growth that leaves unemployment below the natural rate.
The mobility problem in Canada is mostly about making it too attractive for people to stay in areas of high unemployment – essentially distorting the natural rate with government welfare.