Applied Research Bulletin - Volume 5, Number 1 (Summer 1999)

Seasonal Workers: What Is the Situation in New Brunswick?

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The issue of seasonal work has long attracted interest. Indeed, as early as 1933 Simon Kuznets, a Nobel laureate in economics, published a book on seasonality in the economy. In it he stated, for example, that seasonal variations had significant and costly implications for resource allocation.

Closer to home, Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) in 1995 published a report produced by the Working Group on Seasonal Work and Unemployment Insurance. Among other things, the study acknowledged that “seasonal employment needs to be covered by Unemployment Insurance.” It also argued for the need to “take into account the profound effect of UI changes on communities dependent on seasonal jobs.” This report was the result of extensive consultation with members of communities where seasonal work played a major role, as well as public servants and experts in the field. It was produced to further our understanding of the nature of seasonal work.

Three HRDC economists, one of whom works in New Brunswick, have focused on the problem of seasonal workers by analyzing the results of a new Seasonal Workers Survey in that province. The study paints a detailed portrait of seasonal work and workers there. In particular, it enables us to see exactly which industrial sectors rely the most on seasonal employment and the main socio-economic characteristics of seasonal workers. The study also highlights some of the factors that seem to affect the job prospects of seasonal workers.

Who Are the Seasonal Workers?

The study's authors—Francis L'Italien, Samuel LeBreton and Louis Grignon—tell us that approximately 20 percent of New Brunswick workers were seasonally employed at some point in 1996.

As a rule, seasonal workers have lower levels of education than other workers. Indeed, among workers aged 25 or over, nearly 43 percent of those engaged in seasonal work had not completed their high school education in 1996, compared with only 22 percent for the workforce as a whole. Moreover only 6 percent of seasonal workers aged 25 or more had university degrees, compared with 19 percent for the workforce as a whole.

Women, representing 37 percent of seasonal workers, generally had more schooling than their male counterparts. The survey also reveals that seasonal workers were younger on average than the workforce as a whole. About 31 percent of them were under age 25 as compared with 17 percent for all workers. Among students, present in large numbers in the 15- to 24-year-old group, seasonal work may be desirable for someone trying to accumulate funds in the summer for a return to school in the fall.

Where Do They Work?

The study also reveals that seasonal jobs are not found solely in the areas of activity usually included among seasonal industries. In fact, almost 50 percent of all seasonal jobs in New Brunswick were in industries other than agriculture, fishing, fish processing, forestry and construction. The socio-cultural, business and personal services sectors alone (excluding accommodation and food services) accounted for nearly 20 percent of the province's seasonal jobs in 1996.

The traditionally seasonal industries nonetheless have a high proportion of seasonal jobs. In 1996, almost 84 percent of the jobs in the fishing and trapping industry were seasonal. The corresponding figures were 83 percent in fish processing, 58 percent in the forestry sector, 50 percent in agriculture and 47 percent in construction. The other industries posted sharply lower percentages of seasonal jobs. The accommodation and food services industry accounted for 20 percent of seasonal jobs, the same percentage as all industries taken together.

Seasonal Workers' Earnings

Seasonal workers hold jobs that are on average less well paid than those of other workers. In 1996, about 68 percent of seasonal jobs in New Brunswick paid $10 an hour or less compared with 51 percent of all jobs. Only 4 percent of seasonal jobs paid over $20 an hour compared with 13 percent for all jobs.

Job Search

The study also enables us to make the connection between job search and the total number of jobs held by seasonal workers in 1996. The Seasonal Workers Survey data tell us whether seasonal workers engage in job searches when their seasonal jobs are finished. We learn, for example, that three-quarters of those who had had only one job during the year never looked for work after their seasonal jobs ended. Among those who had more than one job, this figure fell to 50 percent. Note that some seasonal workers had no need to look for work after their seasonal jobs ended. This was the case, for example, with those deciding to retire, go back to school, care for their families or accept a job—seasonal or not—immediately after losing a seasonal job.

Education: Synonym for Success Among Seasonal Workers

There is also a connection between level of schooling and workers' ability to find further employment. As it happens, seasonal workers with relatively high levels of education were more likely to have had several jobs during the year than those with fewer years of schooling. About 23 percent of seasonal workers who had not completed high school had more than one job in 1996, compared with 45 percent of those with university degrees.

Young seasonal workers are more likely than their older counterparts to hold more than one job during the year. If we exclude the 15 to 19 age group, which contains large numbers of students, the older seasonal workers were, the lower was the percentage holding more than one job in 1996. For example, 42 percent of seasonal workers aged 20 to 24 had two jobs or more compared with 23 percent of the 45- to 54-year-olds and only 12 percent in the group aged 55 or older. Note that 29 percent of all seasonal workers held more than one job over the year.

The Seasonal Workers Survey: A Valuable Information Source

The Seasonal Workers Survey data made it possible to get a more accurate picture of seasonal work and seasonal workers in New Brunswick. One of the study's major results was to show that seasonal work was a fairly widespread phenomenon that affected one worker in five in New Brunswick in 1996. Moreover, the incidence of seasonal work extends far beyond those industries generally viewed as seasonal. The study also shows that being young or having a higher level of education enables seasonal workers to find further employment more readily.

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