Job Growth in Canada

B.C. leads Canada in job growth for 2005

Our jobless rate is at a 25-year low, while youth unemployment is the lowest ever, StatsCan says
Saturday, October 08, 2005
 

British Columbia is posting the strongest employment growth of any province in 2005 leaving the provincial unemployment rate at a 25-year low and youth unemployment at an all-time low, federal reports released Friday show.


Robert Mattioli, an economist with Service Canada (formerly known as Human Resources Development), said that is the lowest that overall unemployment has been since January, 1981, when the number of jobless dropped to 5.5 per cent.


Jock Finlayson, executive vice-president of the Business Council of B.C., said rising youth employment is a natural result of the overall employment picture, which has, by Statistics Canada's Count, seen B.C. add 65,000 new jobs to the workforce in the last 12 months -- a growth rate of 3.1 per cent year-over-year.

"The kind of numbers we're seeing are indicative of an overall labour scarcity," Finlayson said. "And one of the things you would expect to happen when that occurs is a gradual drop in youth unemployment."

Mattioli said the sectors that tend to employ youth -- retail and wholesale trade, culture and recreation -- both posted gains in September. In the past year, the trade sector showed the biggest gain in jobs adding 27,900 new positions.

Construction created 18,400 new jobs over the past year, which was just ahead of the education sector, which saw 13,400 additional positions.


Mattioli said other signs of strength in the job market were that full-time employment increased by 4,100 in September hinting that people are shifting up from part-time, and private-sector paid employment rose while self employment dropped.
 

- Excerpts from Derrick Penner article in the Vancouver Sun brought to you by Russell Monsurate AI