BC/Yukon Region - Labour Force Survey - January 2008

• Highlights
• Wage Increases and Labour Shortages
• Summary of Labour Force Survey Results
       - Summary Data - BC
       - Employment by Industry - BC
       - Employment by Sector - BC
       - Unemployment Rates by Age & Sex - BC
       - Unemployment Rates - Provinces
       - Unemployment Rates - BC Economic Regions

Highlights

• BC's unemployment rate increased to 4.3% in September from 4.0% in August 2007. This happened because BC saw an addition of 9,700 to its labour force but no increase in employment.
  
  
• Over the past year, employment increased by 64,100 or 2.9%, bringing down the province's unemployment from 4.8% to 4.3%.
  
  
• The three top industries contributing to employment growth over the past year were Retail and Wholesale Trade, Manufacturing, and Construction.
  
  
• For the fifth consecutive month, the Construction industry has remained at its employment peak of 200,000.

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Wage Increases and Labour Shortages

Both BC and Alberta are experiencing labour shortages. Unemployment is at or near record lows, and wages are moving upward. The question is whether wages in BC are keeping up with those in Alberta, and what implication this has for shortages in BC over the next year. Let's have a look at the data.

Wages in Alberta continue to outpace what BC employers are offering. Over the past year, wages increased by 5.7% compared with only 3.5% in BC.

As a result, the average Albertan now earns $22.33 per hour, while in BC, the average wage is $20.37. That's a record gap of $1.96. Ten years ago, it was the other way around, where BC workers earned $2 more than workers in Alberta. And as the graph shows, this turnaround has accelerated over the past three years.

While the oil patch is said to be responsible for Alberta's wage growth, the data shows that wage increases were across most industries. In particular, on an annual basis*, employees in Food and Accommodation saw their wages increase by 11.3% in Alberta compared with 4.1% in BC. Similarly, workers in Retail and Wholesale Trade in Alberta saw their wages increase by 7.7%, compared with 3.9% in BC.

For 2008, the Conference Board of Canada, in their latest Provincial Economic Outlook, is forecasting wage increases of 2.9% for BC and 3.1% for Alberta. So expect the gap between Alberta and BC wages to widen, meaning that labour shortages in BC will continue to remain a critical issue.

* Sept/06-Aug/07 compared with Sept/05-Aug/06