Our content is fiercely open source and we never paywall our website. The support of our community makes this possible.
Make a donation of $35 or more and receive The Monitor magazine for one full year and a donation receipt for the full amount of your gift.
Further to my earlier post on the “own goal” scored by the Fraser Institute report on North American labour markets, the Table below shows the rankings of the Canadian provinces – out of 60 states and provinces – for (1) labour market performance, 2007-11 and (2) the unionization rate. (I have reversed the Fraser ranking for the latter indicator so that a rank of 1 rather than 60 is given to the jurisdiction with the highest unionization rate.)
The provinces all score relatively well in terms of labour market performance, with 4 in the top 10, and only Nova Scotia not in the top 20. (This indicator is based on job creation, unemployment and productivity growth.)
Provinces make up 9 of the top 10 jurisdictions by unionization. (New York and Alaska have higher unionization rates than Alberta which ranks 12 in North America.)
Obviously a lot of factors are at play in terms of job creation- but, if the data show anything, it is that high unionization is associated with better rather than worse labour market performance.
| Ranking of Canadian Provinces (Out of 60) | ||||
| Labour Market | Unionization Rate | |||
| Performance | ||||
| Alberta | 1 | 12 | ||
| Saskatchewan | 2 | 4 | ||
| Manitoba | 5 | 3 | ||
| BC | 7 | 6 | ||
| Quebec | 11 | 1 | ||
| Newfoundland | 13 | 2 | ||
| Ontario | 16 | 9 | ||
| PEI | 19 | 5 | ||
| New Brunswick | 21 | 8 | ||
| Nova Scotia | 21 | 7 |
