Some Goodnews As Canada Had Best Job Creation in 4 years

Canada's job market had a promising end to a year marked by big employment gains — but, unlike recent history, growth in 2016 was driven by a less-encouraging factor: an upsurge in part-time work. Canada added more than 53,000 jobs in December, bringing the total for 2016 to 214,000.

The total for last month was 54,000, according to Statistics Canada. The economy actually added 81,000 full-time jobs during the month, but that was slightly offset by a loss of 27,000 part-time positions.

The results were a positive surprise to economists, who had been expecting a slight loss of jobs during the month.

Canada sanctions on Russian oil industry

Canada announced new sanctions against Russia on Friday, including additional restrictions on the export of technology used in the oil and gas industry.

Foreign Minister John Baird also said sanctions were being applied on a number of individuals in Russia and Ukraine, due to Russia's actions in Ukraine.

"Doing nothing is not an option," Baird told a news conference.

Tech Giant, Microsoft Lays off 3,000

(Photo: JOSH EDELSON, AFP/Getty Images)

 Elizabeth Weise, USATODAY
Microsoft laid off 3,000 workers Wednesday, finishing a round of 18,000 layoffs that the company announced in July.

"The reductions happening today are spread across many different business units, and many different countries," a Microsoft spokesman said in an emailed statement.

The majority of those who lost their jobs, close to 70%, were former Nokia staffers, Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella said in a blog post.

Microsoft purchased the Finnish company's handset business for $7.5 billion in April. Microsoft scrapped the Nokia X Android phones, shifting them to become Lumia products running Windows, Nadella said.

The rest of the layoffs were part of a strategic shift in direction to help Microsoft "become more agile and move faster," Nadella said.

His goal is to simplify the company, ending up with a flatter organization with fewer layers of management that will result in "more productive, impactful teams," he said.

The 18,000 employees who have lost their jobs represent about 14% of Microsoft's overall staff.

Of the 3,000 let go Wednesday, 638 were in the Seattle area where Microsoft is based.

Watch Jerry Seinfeld Mock Industry Biggest Awards Ceremony

Canada's Migrant Farm Worker Program Rife With Gender Discrimination Says Union

Allowing Canadian farmers to choose whether they want men or women from Mexico to work for them as seasonal agricultural workers amounts to gender discrimination, a prominent union is arguing.

Allowing Canadian farmers to choose whether they want men or women from Mexico to work for them as seasonal agricultural workers amounts to gender discrimination, a prominent union is arguing.

In a complaint this week, the United Food and Commercial Workers union is calling on Ontario's Human Rights Tribunal to investigate the situation.

According to the union, women comprise on average less than four per cent of the thousands of migrant agriculture workers who come to Canada each year under the seasonal agricultural workers program.

A similar complaint was made in Quebec earlier this month, and another one will be filed in British Columbia in a few weeks, said union spokesman Stan Raper.

The union wants the rights bodies to review the program's recruitment and selection process, which allows employers to request workers based on gender.

Named in the Ontario complaint are all farm owners who recruit Mexican farm workers under the seasonal program.

"In 2011, the percentage of (female) participants of Mexican origin accounted for only 3.75 per cent of a total of 16,491 workers," according to the Ontario complaint.

Canada's Inflation Skyrockets To New High

Canada's annual inflation rate climbed to its highest level in two years, reaching 2.0 per cent in April, as an unusually big jump in energy prices -- particularly gasoline and natural gas -- helped push up consumer prices.

The steep 0.5 percentage point increase from the previous month put the annual rate back at what the Bank of Canada considers the optimal level.

Given that inflation was as low as 0.7 per cent as recently as October, the dramatic climb in recent months would normally signal the beginning of an interest rate increase cycle for the Bank of Canada, whose principal mandate is to keep inflation at two per cent.

But governor Stephen Poloz has already said he will "look through" the current rise in inflation as being a temporary phenomenon driven by consumer items related to energy.

Switzerland Rejects Proposal To Create World's Highest Minimum Wage of $25

Swiss voters were casting ballots Sunday on a nationwide referendum to introduce the world's highest minimum wage of 22 Swiss francs (US $24.70) an hour. Keystone,Peter Klaunzer Keystone,Peter Klaunzer/Associated Press

Initial results suggest that the Swiss have rejected a referendum proposal to create the world's highest minimum wage, an idea that government and business leaders criticized as likely to drive Switzerland's high costs even higher.

Swiss TV reported Sunday that 77 per cent were rejecting the proposal to create a minimum wage of 22 Swiss francs ($25) per hour, based on unofficial vote tallies. Official results were expected later Sunday.

The proposal would have eclipsed the existing highest minimum wages in force elsewhere in Europe. Trade unions backed it as a way of fighting poverty in a country that, by some measures, features the world's highest prices and most expensive cities.

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