With average weekly earnings plummeting 4.3 per cent year-over-year, it’s time for the NDP government to put an end to their risky economic experiments and put forward a credible jobs plan, the Wildrose Official Opposition said today.
Over 80,000 jobs have been lost since last year, and the weekly earnings drop is the largest year-over-year decline since data collection started in 2001. Declines in mining, quarrying, and the oil and gas industry contributed the most to the decline.
“The Statistics Canada numbers back up what Wildrose has long been saying – our province is in serious decline and in need of solutions,” Wildrose Shadow Jobs Minister Grant Hunter said. “I am worried for the tens of thousands of Albertans who have lost their job or have seen their salary plummet, with no plan to get Albertans back to work from the NDP government.”
Wildrose introduced a 12–point Jobs Action Plan this month to address some of the key issues facing Albertans, and to get them back to work. To date, the NDP government has not worked to implement any of the common sense proposals.
“The NDP government’s solutions to the current economic downturn have included introducing a failed jobs subsidy program and a $3 billion dollar carbon tax that will hurt every Albertan,” Hunter said. “I know the government has seen a copy of the Wildrose Jobs Action Plan – it makes good sense for them to adopt quality ideas during this time of unprecedented economic downturn.”
The Wildrose Jobs Action Plan focuses on rebuilding the Alberta Advantage, getting Albertans back to work and providing stability for Alberta’s energy sector.