BC leads in job loss numbers in Canada

Getting down to real brass tacks, while Premier Clark is gallivanting around the world and creating smoke & mirrors about BC's job prospects, the real skinny is coming down in real labour market statistics with the highest rate of job losses and fewer people participating in the labour force than previous periods. Hmmmm, would that because there are fewer real jobs out there.

B.C. loses 11,000 jobs in October: StatsCan

Emma Crawford, Nov 2, 2012, Business in Vancouver.

There were 11,000 fewer jobs in British Columbia in October compared with September – the highest loss of any province in the country, according to Statistics Canada numbers released this morning.

However, the provincial unemployment rate actually dropped by 0.3 percentage points to 6.7%, which is due to the fact that fewer people are now participating in the labour force. Employment has grown by 1.3% compared with the same period last year.

Nationally, the unemployment rate remained at 7.4% in October compared with September, which follows two consecutive months of increases. Year-over-year, the country’s full-time employment rate has increased 1.3%, or 229,000 jobs.

Alberta and Saskatchewan continue to have the lowest rates of unemployment in the country, at 4.5% and 4.7% respectively. The highest rates are found in the Maritime provinces, with Newfoundland and Labrador having the worst figures in the country with 11.9% unemployment.

ecrawford@biv.com

@EmmaCrawfordBIV