Unemployment and National Debt in Canada

So I heard on the CBC World at Six radio news program this afternoon that in Canada we have lost 5.5 million jobs due to the current pandemic, which was stated as being one-third of the labor force. But didn’t I just read on the CBC news app that the current unemployment rate is 14%? So I wonder how that can be. I start an internet search and find at https://globalnews.ca/news/7029601/canada-may-unemployment-rate/ that the unemployment rate is 13.7%. I also find at https://www.statista.com/statistics/787267/labor-force-size-forecast-canada/ that the labor force is 20 million, so I think there must be less than 3 million people who want jobs but don’t have any. Let’s confirm that. And https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/200605/dq200605a-eng.htm agrees with the roughly 3 million.

I also learned from the news that Bill Morneau suggested that Canada’s federal debt, now measured in 13 digits, will be financed by 30 year bonds since interest rates are at such a long-term low now. Great idea, Bill…..IF you can find any buyers. Or maybe he plans on floating them with the Bank of Canada. Just another way to inflate the money supply. I expect the debt will get much higher unless we have an election soon. The subsidy tap will likely be turned off quickly after the election if the Liberals are granted a majority.

By the way, some are mentioning that our federal debt as a percentage of our GDP is the lowest in the G7 world. Not so fast……we also have massive debts at other levels of government. Add that to the total, and our national debt is at about 90%. New Zealand is about 30%. Australia: 41%. Germany: 60%. France, Italy, Japan and the USA have higher percentages than us, but let’s not think ours is low.