Laid off workers in Canada find it difficult to get another job easily

Why layoffs are proving costly?

Laid off workers in Canada are finding it difficult to get another job easily. Some workers do not get any jobs at all while others get jobs that offer not even half of what they have been earning before being laid off. A recent study shows that of all the workers who have been laid off, only a quarter of they have been able to find new jobs and their salaries have dipped fairly since the economic recoveries that begin last year.

The preliminary result of a report that tracked around 260 laid off workers states that almost half of the laid off workers are facing troubles in their social life and have been switching form one job to another. The report suggested that one in every six lay off workers is currently employed in more than one company and about a quarter of them are handling three or more jobs. Almost 70 per cent of them are contractual, casual or part-time employees or are self-employed.

The study further noted that the average wages of these employees have fallen by a $ 10 per hour. Moreover, there has been a trend amongst laid off workers of working in organizations that have no unions. This means these workers have less or no control on their rights as well as their working hours. According to the study, only 60 per cent of the laid off workers rated their mental health as average or above-average, which is pretty low in comparison to the mental health of the entire population. More than 50 per cent of these workers reported higher levels of family and personal stress. Most of them could not sleep or had stress all the time.

With the soaring levels of employee compensation, laid off workers are living off their employment insurance. As a result of sudden economic downturn, they have little or no financial assistance that can help them in getting education or retraining.

Reports suggest that since 2002 the manufacturing sector in Canada alone has lost half a million jobs. This decline in the employment has led to the formation of various action centers by government and other CAW, which aim at the recovery of laid off workers.

As per the study, these centers were appreciated by most of the employees as they helped them in reentering the workforce all over again. The employees, however, still need more help from the government’s side to get better training and education opportunities.