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While Canada's employment level has remained relatively stable in the past six months, the quality of employment has dropped significantly, according to a report by CIBC World Markets. CIBC's employment quality index has fallen 3.8% in the past six months even though the employment rate has fallen only 0.2%. The index measures the distribution of part-time and full-time jobs, self-employment versus paid employment and full-time compensation levels. All the components of the index worsened since March, the report said. The biggest contributor to the index's decline lies in the replacement of full-time jobs with lower paying part-time jobs over the past six months. Part-time employment has risen 0.2%, but the number of high-paying jobs has declined by 3%. Benjamin Tal, CIBC World Market's senior economist, noted, "A low-quality job is better than no job, but the headline employment numbers overstate the real health of the Canadian labour market." The biggest decline in employment quality has been concentrated in Western Canada, the report found, with B.C. seeing the largest decline at 8%, followed by Alberat (-4.5%), Atlantic Canada (-4.5%), Quebec (3.9%) and Saskatchewan (-2.2%).
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