-129,000 jobs

StatsCanada is reporting the largest one month decline in jobs since the methodology for their labour force survey was changed in 1976.
There is not much to comment on as the chart tells you all you need to know about the January job picture.
The local picture is much brighter however as the unemployment rate for Victoria nudged up [...]

The big picture

As bad as the economic news has been lately it pays to remember that there are other forces at play that will have even a larger impact on the labour market.
Economic fortunes can swing up and down but Canada’s demographic picture is set in stone (more or less). In short order many British Columbians will be in [...]

Victoria insulated ?

Victoria may not be insulated from the effect of a cold Canadian winter but according to this article, fallout from global economic woes is not being fully felt in the Capital Region. The reason ? A well diversified economy is said to be sheltering Victoria from feeling the worst effect of the financial slowdown.
The momentum in [...]

Over 1 million employed in skilled trades

StatsCanada has released a report that looks at employment trends in the skilled trades. The report notes that emplomyent in this field continues it’s steady rise and that most of the jobs are held by men (97%) and are full-time (also 97%).
On average earnings for this group are high when compared to other occupations. Employees [...]

Small Business Month

October is small business month in BC. Here are some facts that may surprise you.

There 379,700 small businesses operating in British Columbia (representing 98 % of all businesses)
Over one million people are employed in the province by small businesses
Fifty-seven per cent of B.C.’s private sector jobs are with small businesses – the highest rate in Canada

BC’s High Technology sector

BC Stats has just released a profile of this province’s technology sector. Those interested may want to check out the 92 page pdf document for the whole profile but some of the highlights are excerpted below:
High tech comprises about 5.9% of British Columbia’s GDP

High tech employment in the province climbed 4.8% in 2007 to 81,140
Those [...]

Victoria leads the way

A blog post from Reed Construction Data points out that Victoria is leading the country both in terms of both the highest job growth (+4.7%) and the lowest unemployment rate (only 3.2%).

Digging through the data

If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of what is happening in the BC economy you could do a lot worse than to check in weekly with the BC Stats infoline publication. BC Stats provides some concrete data and analysis that puts the province’s economy and labour market in clear focus.
This week’s issue(10 [...]

Study: Canadian immigrant labour market

It’s been well documented that immigrants struggle in the Canadian labour market to find viable employment. A recent study released by StatsCanada once again confirms this but I want to point out a couple of positive items.

Where you live in Canada makes a big difference in terms of employment outcomes. In Ontario and British Columbia, [...]

Employment quality rising

On Monday we looked at the number of jobs that were being created in Canada. The quantity of new jobs is important to track because it is one indicator of a healthy economy. Another important piece of the puzzle has to do with the quality of these new jobs. Are the jobs that are being [...]