CSLS Conference on the Structural Aspects of Unemployment

A CSLS conference examining the structural aspects of unemployment in Canada, organised at the request of Finance Canada and Human Resources Development Canada. Much of the increase in Canadian unemployment in the early 1990s had been reversed, although the employment-population ratio remained well below previous peaks; the conference set out to shed new light on the characteristics of the non-employed and the structural problems making it difficult for them to find regular employment. The experience of countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, which had lowered unemployment below previous cyclical peaks with generally low and stable inflation, formed an important component. Opening remarks were given by Pierre Pettigrew, Minister of Human Resources Development, with a closing panel on policies to reduce structural unemployment. Most of the papers were subsequently published in the July 2000 Canadian Public Policy supplement (see JS-01).