unemployment rate in Canada?
 

Is it really that difficult to find a job these days? Several of my friends got
laid off this year, some are still jobless, but some can find another job fairly
easy. It took me 2 months to switch to another job + a decent salary
increase, so I should say I am a lucky one.

I heard the unemployment rate hit 9% in Aug and it is not likely to fall in the
near future, does it reflect only the spike in retail and financial sector? how
bad is it actually? if you are unemployed, are you lowering your expected
salary?

My ei ran out so now i live in my condo parking lot.

a lot of my friends are still unemployed. I feel bad for the new grads. They have to compete with all the peeps that got laid off, plus most of the companies are not hiring as much or are on hiring freezes.

those of us that have shitty jobs dont really want to quit because we're scared we cant find another one. . ..

and I thought the baby boomers are suppose to retire and give room for jobs. . . . .

^ but I agree, there are jobs still out there, but theres a lot more competition, Unless you're connected . . . or a hot blonde that's willing to do some "overtime".

god damn skytrain

yes, there are many jobs out there, but I see those are one-replace-two
kinda job. Like in my ex-department, they hired 1 supervisor to take up 2
senior supervisors work load, but pay the new supervisor at a very shitty
salary.

Same over here, I was doing quite well in my previous job, but I just got
booted out from the organization ladder and was replaced by someone with
less skill and cheaper.

It's tough these days.

Dood, after months of out on the job, I've finally managed to get an interview at The Shark Club bussing tables and shit. It's totally not the skillset I have but right now some fat tips is better than zero bucks.

I've been out of work quite some time. I've had interviews here and there but nothing really concrete.

Took me two months of searching before I could even find a decent part-time job to coincide with my education.

Keep active guys, eventually something will come up.

3 things:

1. If you're skilled or experienced, you're in demand. I've looked at software jobs and I could switch jobs easily and probably for more pay. In downtimes companies shed the fat and keep their good workers productive.

2. This is why young people should NOT be buying homes and should be mobile. If Vancouver doesn't have jobs, go find them elsewhere and come back in a few years when you have some experience or the market is better. Americans have a much better culture of moving for employment, on average relocating 4 times during their career.

Remember, our country was founded by Europeans who moved here for better opportunities, and continues to grow via immigration of people coming here looking for better opportunities. Its established Canadians who have gotten complacent and don't want to move to find better opportunities.

3. University is the biggest scam perpetuated on young people. Wasting $10Ks to get an education in a degree they'll probably never use (PoliSci, Soc, Phil, Hist, ...) to try to distinguish themselves from other candidates with the piece of paper they are given after 3-5 years. Problem is 39% (2004, 13% university, 26% college) of people aged 20-24 attend post secondary school, so how much does that piece of paper distinguish you from the crowd? Not as much as before and becoming less and less.

took me 1 week to find a second job =D god im an asshole taking up positions that i don't really need

It makes me feel lucky I sitll have a job ^_^
Pay isn't great but the ppl I work with are nice and relax so I am not complainning. Just till after 2010 oly more ppl are going to get laid off.

the bachelor degree is like an admission ticket, it is meaningless but you need
one to enter the game. We are not in 2006 anymore when job market was
hot, even a highschool grad can get a decent paid job.

I agree skilled and experienced workers are in demand, but the competition is
still crazy. Interviewers are very careful picking candidates, one mistake and
you are out of the room. Very different from the time I got my last job...
A simple Excel test and "tell me something about yourself", then come to work
tomorrow.

Unemployment rate might be high but actually for the month of August there was a surplus of 27,000 jobs creation. Hourly earnings also saw a modest increase. So all things considered the economy is moving in the right direction.

This is what I call it the biggest scam perpetuated on young people. They got us to pay $10Ks for admission to the party, and unfortunately for some degrees its a lame sausage party.

Certain skills are very much in demand, for instance: DBA (Database administrator). This job pays very well ($100K+) yet requires someone very geeky who loves maintaining software and dealing with issues systematically. DBAs are in huge demand right now, if you had the skills, you could easily ask for and get a $20K raise.

only funny if its by pandalove