Brian Lee Crowley's latest column shows he's a glass-half-full kinda guy. We shouldn't be worried about unemployment because a) it's old-fashioned, b) Boomers had it worse (and now they're getting old) c) we're doing better than the U.S., and d) it's really only young people and immigrants that are unemployed.

This is a relief.

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The Bank of Canada released their January 2013 Monetary Policy Report. Of note, the Bank downgraded its growth expectation for 2013 to 2.0 per cent from 2.3 per cent, and expects the Canadian economy will not reach full potential until late 2014.

Several key points in the January MPR reinforce what progressive economists have been saying about the Canadian labour market.

Every time this government crows about its job creation record, I cringe. They have moved the finish line and declared victory. No reason to worry about the unemployed here, folks. Let's move on to more public service cuts, and/or tax cuts.

Never mind that unemployment has been in and around 7.4 per cent since the spring of 2011, nowhere near the 6 per cent prior to the recession. Never mind that there were nearly 300,000 more Canadians looking for work in October 2012 than there were in October 2008. So let's take a look at some of those claims.

1. "We've created over 800,000 jobs."

The Harper government likes to remind Canadians that we've done better than most developed nations in bouncing back from the global economic crisis. But digging into the data shows why many people might be having trouble cheering this news: wages have not kept pace with inflation, and new hires are making 40 per cent less than the average worker.

Tiff Macklem, senior deputy governor of the Bank of Canada, recently brought home the official storyline: The level of employment is now higher than it was before the crisis; jobs are mostly being created in the private sector, most are full-time and are emerging in industries that pay above-average wages.