(UPDATED August 19, 2014) August 11, 2014 – The president of the Canadian Labour Congress, Hassan Yussuff, is calling for a national jobs strategy following the latest employment numbers from Statistics Canada that show 18,000 full-time jobs were lost between June and July, while over the past twelve months, 75% of the jobs created were part-time.

“The jobs market is stuck. It needs help to get back on the road to economic recovery,” says Yussuff. “But our governments continue to let the tires spin and tell us we’re not stuck as deeply as the Americans. They do nothing, as more workers give up hope.”

“It’s particularly unfair to young Canadians who can’t find the full-time work they need to get their lives started and build for the future… Canada’s future,” adds Yussuff. “The longer we wait while governments refuse to act, the longer Canada spins its wheels without leadership and a clear plan to get out of the mud and back on the road, the further we let the next generation fall behind.”

The volatility in monthly data from the Labour Force Survey highlights the importance of taking a longer term view and analyzing trends rather than monthly ups and downs, says the congress, adding that even though the labour force added 42,000 jobs in July, several trends point to continued weakness in the Canadian labour market.

Compared to last July, the participation rate of workers aged between 25 and 54 years old has fallen by 0.6 percentage points, and there are 14,500 more unemployed workers in that age group, says the congress. Full-time work among this age group has fallen by nearly 60,000 jobs, with an increase of 37,300 part-time jobs, it notes.