[URBAN NOTE] "Precarious work just as rampant in York Region as Toronto, report says"

[rfmcdonald]

The Toronto Star's May Warren reports about precarious employment in suburban Toronto, in York Region.

Patrick McCrudden thinks about what will happen when his contract ends, “every single day.”

[. . .]

“Quite frankly, I think that looking for work is the most stressful job in the world.”

Since graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brock University in 2011, McCrudden has worked a string of unpaid internships and temporary contracts.

He’s currently working as a marketing co-ordinator at the Markham Fair, but the position ends in August. He would love to stay and get something more permanent in advertising, but, like many workers in York Region, he always has to keep an eye out for other potential jobs.

A new report from the United Way and McMaster University finds fewer than half (48.9 per cent) of workers in York Region — including Markham, Richmond Hill and Vaughan — hold permanent, full-time jobs with benefits. The rest are working at jobs with some degree of precariousness, including temporary and contract positions and full-time jobs without benefits, or part-time posts.