The advanced economies, including Canada, risk falling back into recession because of government spending cuts and a looming financial crisis.
The IMF now forecasts that the national unemployment rate in Canada will rise from 7.3% in August to an average of 7.7% in 2012. Real wages are falling - in August, hourly wages were up 1.4% from a year earlier, while prices were up 3.1%.
How bad are things likely to get? And what should be done about it?
The Canadian Labour Congress has been calling for our federal government and the G20 governments to respond by putting jobs first. This paper summarizes the economic situation as of the end of September, 2011 and outlines what needs to be done.
