The provincial unemployment rate remain unchanged in October, but the latest figures from Statistics Canada also show differences across regions and sectors.
Jobs Minister Brenda Bailey said in a statement Friday that the new figures show the strength of the provincial economy in the face of broader challenges such high national interest rates and a slowing global economy.
With the end of the year approaching, October rates stood at 5.4 per cent for three out of the last four months after having reached a peak of 5.6 per cent in June 2023.
It stood at 4.4 per cent in January.
According to Statistics Canada, Kelowna Census Metropolitan Area has the lowest unemployment among B.C. four major metropolitan regions with 2.9 per cent, followed by Victoria with 3.8 per cent. Vancouver CMA with an unemployment rate of 5.8 per cent and Abbotsford-Mission with an unemployment rate of 6.1 per cent round out the picture.
The new figures also reveal some regional differences. The North Coast and Nechako region of B.C. recorded B.C.’s highest regional unemployment rate with 6.8 per cent. The Cariboo and Kootenay regions also exceed the provincial unemployment rate with 5.7 per cent each.
The Lower-Mainland and Southwest of B.C. also exceed the provincial average with a rate of 5.7 per cent. B.C.’s Northeast (5.1 per cent), Vancouver Island and the Coast (4.3 per cent) and the Thompson-Okanagan (3.2 per cent) lie below the provincial average.
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Looking at the sectors, the construction continues its cyclical patterns as it added 10,200 new jobs, after having sheds jobs earlier this year. The professional, scientific and technical services sector also added 5,600 jobs. B.C.’s historic resource sector, however, continues to struggle as the forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas sector lost 1,600 jobs. This said, the biggest unemployment losses happened in educational services as well as the information, culture and recreation sector with both shedding 6,700 jobs each.
Nationally, the unemployment rate rose by 0.2 per cent to 5.7 per cent marking the fourth monthly increase in the past six months.
The latest, relatively stable unemployment figures for B.C come after the Bank of Canada held its overnight rate at 5 per cent, as many had expected in the face of new economic numbers, including job figures, that show the Canadian economy in a holding, even declining pattern.
Steve Ng, regional manager and mobile mortgage specialist with TD Canada Trust, said TD Economics is anticipating that rates will hold steady between now and the middle of next year, possibly even toward the end of 2024 before coming down.
“But it won’t come down quickly,” he said. “It will come down very, very slowly.”
The new job numbers and the Bank of Canada’s interest rate decision also appear against the backdrop of what Ng called the “significant” slow-down of China’s economy and uncertainty in the Middle East following Hamas’ terrorist attacks on Israel on Oct. 7.
Ng said the situation in the Middle East co-exists with other crises that have the potential to directly or indirectly impact inflation through fuel prices.
@wolfgangdepner
wolfgang.depner@blackpress.ca
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