B.C.'s jobless rate down to 5.9; still the only province 'notably' above pre-pandemic employment levels
B.C.'s jobless rate down to 5.9; still the only province 'notably' above pre-pandemic employment levels
VANCOUVER -
British Columbia again saw the third-lowest unemployment rate of Canadian provinces last month.
According to national statistics posted Friday, the rate in B.C. fell to 5.9 per cent in September, from 6.2 the month before.
With the Canada-wide rate now at 6.9, B.C. appears to be recovering from the pandemic better than much of the country.
But, if you stop and talk to some business owners in Vancouver, many of them will tell you making ends meet is still a huge challenge right now.
“The reality is we haven’t made the hay we need during the summertime to be able to get through the winter,” says Dan Webster, co-owner of Container Brewing in East Vancouver.
“In my opinion, I don’t think we’re really recovering yet. Until we actually have people coming from all around the world and visiting our fine city, we’re not recovering yet. It’s still just battling along.”
Container Brewing first opened its doors in November 2019, so it was only open for four months before the pandemic first struck. The brewery has relied heavily on the local community for support – as well as government subsidies – to keep the doors open and to keep people employed.
“What we really need now is continued provincial and federal support,” said Webster.
Meanwhile, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) says only about 39 per cent of its members have normal levels of employment right now, and only 46 per cent are making normal revenues.
“Debt is a huge concern,” said Seth Scott, CFIB senior policy analyst for B.C. and the North. “It’s not just a light switch, it’s more like a dimmer we’re going to have to slowly move our way back up, we can’t just turn the economy on.”
Unemployment rates were lower in Manitoba (5.6 per cent) and Quebec (5.7).
In terms of individual jobs, Statistics Canada says the economy added 157,000 across the country last month, bringing employment back to pre-pandemic levels for the first time.
It's not the first time B.C. has been back to those levels, however. June and July numbers on the West Coast were consistent with what was seen before COVID-19 swept through the country.
In September, it remained the only province with employment "notably" above that level, StatCan said.
Minister of Jobs Ravi Kahlon said the provincial job recovery rate is at 101.5 per cent.
In a news release following the data, Kahlon described the province as "leading Canada's economic recovery," saying 12,300 jobs were added last month.
Among the latest gains, B.C.'s increase in hires in the education field in September helped bring up the rest of the country.
Jobs were also added in public administration and a category called "business, building and other support services," among others.
The biggest areas of loss in B.C. were health care and social assistance, wholesale and retail, utilities and construction.
The age category with the highest jobless rate was between 15 and 24. In B.C., men were slightly more likely to be unemployed than women last month.
"Women, who have been disproportionately impacted by this pandemic, led B.C.'s increase in employment for the month of September," Kahlon said.
The rate of recovery also rose for Indigenous peoples.
Elsewhere in Canada, some provinces are experiencing double the rate of joblessness, including in Newfoundland and Labrador, where the metric grew from August to 13.1 from 12.1. In Prince Edward Island, the unemployment rate was at 11.3 per cent.
While the average in B.C. is 5.9, some parts of the province lost or gained more jobs than others.
In Kelowna, the rate was actually lower than the province-wide average at 5.4 per cent, an improvement from August's 5.7.
Abbotsford-Mission and Vancouver saw more people out of work, however, with rates at 6.9 and 6.7 per cent, respectively.
But Victoria fared much better, with 4.2 per cent of workers in the labour force still searching for jobs.
Looking at recovery, Prince George has led the province with a rate of 107.1 per cent. The province highlighted a 106.8 per cent recovery rate in the Thompson-Okanagan area and 104.6 per cent in the Cariboo.
Vancouver Island's job recovery rate is 104.1 per cent, followed by the Kootenays at 102.3, the Lower Mainland at 102, Vancouver at 101.3 and North Coast-Nechako at 100.7.
Still, the minister noted there is more work to be done.
"Many people and businesses are still struggling with the impacts of the pandemic," he said.
With files from The Canadian Press
To view B.C. data in the embedded graphic below, select the province from the map. View a larger version of this interactive element on StatCan's website.
Canada's special rapporteur on foreign interference David Johnston calls the allegations swirling around his objectivity 'quite simply false,' and said Tuesday he plans to push ahead with his work, launching public hearings next month
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should see to it that mass murderers serve their entire sentences in maximum-security prison.
The number of interactions between killer whales and humans has increased alarmingly in recent years. CTVNews.ca asked an expert to explain the reasons behind the increase in interactions, explore the types of encounters, and examine the implications for both humans and killer whales.
The PGA Tour ended its expensive fight with Saudi Arabia's golf venture and now is joining forces with it, making a stunning announcement Tuesday of a merger that creates a commercial operation with the Public Investment Fund and the European tour.
While the Liberals insist a Pacific Rim trade bloc should welcome anyone who meets its standards, an internal document suggests Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wants China kept out.
The federal government has given an updated deal to a public-service union that signed its collective agreement in the fall in order to match deals reached with the Public Service Alliance of Canada during a strike this spring.
Prince Harry entered a courtroom witness box Tuesday, swearing to tell the truth in testimony against a tabloid publisher he accuses of phone hacking and other unlawful snooping.
Canada's emergency preparedness minister says images of wildfires burning across the country are some of the most severe ever witnessed in Canada and the current forecast for the next few months indicates the potential for continued higher-than-normal fire activity.
Many Canadian parents are stretching themselves thin — even going as far as to postpone their retirement in some cases — in order to help pay for their children’s education, according to a new survey.
The province is revealing its housing cards, as 37 more municipalities have been identified as the next group that will be required to create housing targets in their communities to help combat the ongoing housing shortfall.
A wildfire that has been burning out of control on Vancouver Island since Sunday morning is now estimated to cover approximately 20 hectares of dense forest near Port Alberni.
Calgary-based Cenovus Energy says it has safely restarted a portion of its production that was shut down because of the threat of wildfires in northern and central Alberta.
Innisfail RCMP say an officer was attacked by the driver and passenger of a truck they'd stopped on suspicion of impaired driving on Saturday, but the accused's lawyer has a different story of the encounter.
Police in Australia are investigating the suspicious death of a woman who used to live in Surrey, BC, after her body was found in her apartment on the outskirts of Sydney.
Mounties in the town of McLennan, Alta. are hoping members of the public can help them identify two men who tried to steal a bank machine from the local ATB Financial.
Mounties in Peace River Alta. are asking residents to check their "businesses, homes, sheds and outbuildings" for any sign of 13-year-old Rocky Conrad Cardinal.
The actions of the teen who repeatedly slashed a North York massage parlour receptionist, killing her and injuring her manager, were an act of terrorism, an Ontario Supreme Court Justice found Monday in a 'historical' decision in Canada.
A grieving widow whose husband was run over and killed by a speeding OPP officer can't believe the force told her it won't hold a public hearing into the case because it decided the misconduct was 'not serious.'
One Quebec city that had been threatened by approaching wildfires has lifted an evacuation order, but other parts of the province continue to deal with out-of-control blazes that are taxing firefighting resources.
A 53-year-old man was shot and killed in the Montreal suburb of Dorval on Monday afternoon. A source told CTV News that the victim is Francesco Del Balso, who has links to Montreal's Mafia.
Investigators out of the Quebec police organized crime task force were in Kanesatake and St. Jerome on Tuesday conducting raids and interviewing potential suspects.
A Ukrainian woman who now lives in Winnipeg is hoping one day she will be able to bring her husband's remains to her new home, a place he hoped one day he too would be able to call home.
While Saskatoon Tribal Council (STC) publicly mulled moving its downtown emergency shelter to a location on 20th Street near the city's core, city documents reveal the wellness centre's present Fairhaven area location was heavily favoured early in the process.
Canada's emergency preparedness minister says images of wildfires burning across the country are some of the most severe ever witnessed in Canada and the current forecast for the next few months indicates the potential for continued higher-than-normal fire activity.
It’s been 79 years since the war effort known as ‘D-Day,’ which eventually led to the liberation of western Europe during World War II. The day was marked with a service in Normandy with the Royal Regina Rifles on hand.
Hammonds Plains Road reopened to traffic early Tuesday morning more than week after wildfires began in the Halifax area. Officials say the fires in the area are contained, though crews continue to deal with hot spots and flare ups.
Canada's emergency preparedness minister says images of wildfires burning across the country are some of the most severe ever witnessed in Canada and the current forecast for the next few months indicates the potential for continued higher-than-normal fire activity.
Marking the two year anniversary of the alleged terror attack that took the lives of four members of the same family, the board has announced an Anti-Islamophobia Strategy.
On this day in 2021, four out of five members of a London, Ont. family were killed while they were out for a walk and struck by a vehicle, in an apparently deliberate attack.
An investigation is underway after a crash between a car and a transport truck on Tuesday morning. It happened around 9 a.m. on Highbury Avenue near Ron McNeil Line, north of St. Thomas.
While firefighters get more forest fires under control in northern Ontario, travel restrictions declared under an emergency order are being expanded in several communities.
A 13-year-old male from Elliot Lake in northern Ontario has been charged with sexual assault again, bringing the total to 10, after another survivor came forward.
A grieving widow whose husband was run over and killed by a speeding OPP officer can't believe the force told her it won't hold a public hearing into the case because it decided the misconduct was 'not serious.'
