Survey Reveals Major Differences Between Unemployed in U.S. and Canada

Unemployed Canadians Get More Interviews, Turn Down More Jobs. Americans More Likely Than Canadians to Give Up Looking For Work According to a Harris Poll of the Unemployed

Express Employment Professionals, the nation’s largest franchised staffing firm, recently released a comparison of the results of the “State of the Unemployed” surveys taken in the U.S. and Canada.

The exhaustive surveys were fielded online by Harris Poll on behalf of Express Employment Professionals from April 9 through April 21, 2014 among 1,500 unemployed adult Americans and 1,502 unemployed adult Canadians age 18 or older.

America’s unemployed are more likely to give up, less likely to be on employment compensation and less likely to go back to school.

• In the U.S., 47% of the unemployed agree that they have given up looking for work; 39% in Canada report the same.
• In the U.S., 46% report no job interviews in the previous month; 36% say the same in Canada.
• In the U.S., 19% have turned down a job offer; in Canada 24% have done so.
• In the U.S., 13% are currently enrolled or have taken classes, compared to 23% in Canada.
• In the U.S., 20% are receiving unemployment compensation, compared to 29% in Canada.

America’s unemployed are more likely to accept any job.

• In the U.S., 66% say they are willing to accept almost any job that will help pay the bills; 34% say they will only accept a job that they really want to do. In Canada, 61% say they are willing to accept almost any job; 39% say they will only accept one they really want to do.
• In the U.S., 36% of the unemployed spent five or fewer hours a week looking for work, compared to 32% in Canada.

Canadians are getting more interviews and turning down more offers.

• In the U.S., 73% report two or fewer interviews in the prior month. Among those unemployed for more than two years, 71% report no interviews in the prior month.
• In Canada, 66% report two or fewer interviews in the prior month. Among those unemployed for more than two years, 61% report no interviews the prior month.
• In the U.S., 26% say they are receiving income from doing various odd jobs. 18% of unemployed Canadians say the same.

Canadians are much more likely to say unemployment compensation means they don’t have to look for work as hard.

• Among those receiving unemployment benefits, 48% in the U.S. agree that they haven’t had to look for work as hard knowing they have some income to rely on, while 56% in Canada agree.
• Among those receiving unemployment benefits, 62% in the U.S. and 74% in Canada agree it has let them take time for themselves.
• Among those receiving unemployment benefits, 82% in the U.S. say they would search harder and wider for a job if their unemployment compensation runs out before they find work; 87% in Canada say the same.

“With offices in both the U.S. and Canada, Express knows that while the two countries share a border, they don’t share the same job market—even in this era of globalization,” said Bob Funk, CEO of Express, and a former chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. “Indeed, the unemployment situation in the U.S. and Canada has some sharp differences. Overall, Canadians seem more resistant to giving up—but also choosier when deciding whether to take a job. The job market right now is stronger in Canada than in the United States.”

Read the full U.S. report.

Read the full Canada report.

Survey Methodology: This study was conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of Express Employment Professionals and included 1,500 U.S. adults and 1,502 Canadian adults aged 18 or older who are unemployed but capable of working (whether or not they receive unemployment compensation benefits) who participated in an online survey between April 9 and April 21, 2014. The survey fielded in Canada during the same dates has 1,502 respondents. Results were weighted as needed for age by gender, education, race/ethnicity, region and household income. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online. Totals may not equal the sum of their individual components due to rounding. No estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated; a full methodology is available.

Refresh Leadership is brought to you by Express Employment Professionals.