Service Canada
People serving people
Common menu bar links
BC/Yukon Region - Labour Force Survey - February 2007
- BC Unemployment Rate Falls to 4.0%
- Employment Rates 55 Years and Older
- 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
BC Unemployment Rate Falls to 4.0%
While employment gains in February were less than 3,000, compared to January's gain of over 30,000, it was nonetheless enough to bring the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in BC to a new record low of just 4.0%. Only Alberta at 3.5% has a lower rate. To put this figure into perspective, the long-term average unemployment rate in BC since 1976 is just over 9%, and yet for the past 22 months the rate has been 6% or less.
The provincial employment rate held steady in February at 63.5%. The long term average for this statistic in BC is just 59%, yet for the past 17 months it has been 62% or more.
Over the past year, Statistics Canada has observed that employment growth has been above the national average in the three westernmost provinces, BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan. The latest month saw good gains of 10 thousand jobs in BC's transportation sector, and since September this province's manufacturers have added 15,000 jobs in a sector that has been struggling nationally, though factory employment was essentially unchanged last month.
BC's youth employment has risen in the last month and over the last year, but at a rate below the national average. Youth employment in this province is now just 4,000 higher, or 1.1% more, than a year ago, while across Canada youth employment has risen 1.9% since last February.
American and Canadian Labour Markets Both Doing Well
Canadian employers added 14,200 people to their payrolls in February, the third month in a row that the economy has churned out more jobs than expected. ...February's jobless rate, meantime, unexpectedly fell to 6.1 per cent from 6.2 per cent, Statistics Canada said Friday.
Employment has been on an upward trajectory since August, with average monthly gains of 42,000, the agency said. Last month's gains came despite a railroad strike, which helped knock 34,300 jobs off the goods-producing side of the economy.
Source: Globe and Mail
The [U.S.] Labor Department reported that total nonfarm employment rose in February by 97,000 - slightly more than analysts were expecting . ...At the same time, the national unemployment rate fell back to 4.5 percent from 4.6 percent. ...The report comes as anxiety over the state of the economy is growing. A number of closely watched economic reports - including those that measure growth and business investment - have detected a downshift in recent months. ...The report is likely to help soothe those fears.
Source: New York Times Top of Page
Employment Rates 55 Years and Older
For at least the last thirty years female employment rates have been rising, both in the prime aged 25 to 54 year category and among women 55 and over. For men the story is quite different. Prime age male employment rates have never returned to the 90+% range that existed prior to the recession of the early 1980s. And until the last five years employment rates for men 55 and older were not budging from the lower levels they began to experience around 1985.
In recent years female employment rates have continued their long-term rise. They have risen more quickly in the 55 to 64 year age group than in the 25 to 54 year age group, which has been increasing very slowly. In the last five years there have also been some increases in employment rates among women in their late 60s. Among men, there has been a clear increase in employment rates since 2001 among those aged 60 to 69, and a small rise among prime aged males 25 to 54.
These employment rate increases in the age categories from 55 to 69 years added 19,000 men and 9,000 women to the 2006 BC job market compared to the employment levels that would have been observed if there had been no change in older worker employment rates since the year 2000.
Summary of Labour Force Survey Results
Legend:
MC(#) = Absolute Monthly Change
MC(%) = Percentage Monthly Change
YC(#) = Absolute Yearly Change
YC(%) = Percentage Yearly Change
"- -" = indicates number suppressed due to high sample variance
| February 2007 | January 2007 | February 2006 | MC (#) | MC (%) | YC (#) | YC (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population 15+ (000) | 3,547.4 | 3,543.7 | 3,487.9 | 3.7 | 0.1 | 59.5 | 1.7 |
| Labour Force (000) | 2,347.4 | 2,352.0 | 2,283.1 | -4.6 | -0.2 | 64.3 | 2.8 |
| Employed (000) | 2,252.9 | 2,250.2 | 2,176.3 | 2.7 | 0.1 | 76.6 | 3.5 |
| Emp-Full-Time (000) | 1,797.5 | 1,794.3 | 1,713.6 | 3.2 | 0.2 | 83.9 | 4.9 |
| Emp-Part-Time (000) | 455.3 | 455.9 | 462.7 | -0.6 | -0.1 | -7.4 | -1.6 |
| Unemployed (000) | 94.6 | 101.8 | 106.8 | -7.2 | -7.1 | -12.2 | -11.4 |
| Unemployment Rate (%) | 4.0 | 4.3 | 4.7 | -0.3 | -0.7 | ||
| Participation Rate (%) | 66.2 | 66.4 | 65.5 | -0.2 | 0.7 | ||
| Employment Rate (%) | 63.5 | 63.5 | 62.4 | 0.0 | 1.1 |
| February 2007 | January 2007 | February 2006 | MC (#) | MC (%) | YC (#) | YC (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Industry (000) | 2,252.9 | 2,250.2 | 2,176.3 | 2.7 | 0.1 | 76.6 | 3.5 |
| Goods-Producing | 484.2 | 493.6 | 459.6 | -9.4 | -1.9 | 24.6 | 5.4 |
| Agriculture | 35.7 | 35.5 | 36.0 | 0.2 | 0.6 | -0.3 | -0.8 |
| Forestry, Fishing, Mining, Oil & Gas |
48.3 | 52.5 | 39.3 | -4.2 | -8.0 | 9.0 | 22.9 |
| Utilities | 9.3 | 7.9 | 8.0 | 1.4 | 17.7 | 1.3 | 16.3 |
| Construction | 186.5 | 192.8 | 174.3 | -6.3 | -3.3 | 12.2 | 7.0 |
| Manufacturing | 204.5 | 204.8 | 202.1 | -0.3 | -0.1 | 2.4 | 1.2 |
| Service-Producing | 1,768.7 | 1,756.6 | 1,716.6 | 12.1 | 0.7 | 52.1 | 3.0 |
| Trade | 359.1 | 352.1 | 363.1 | 7.0 | 2.0 | -4.0 | -1.1 |
| Transport & Warehousing | 131.3 | 121.2 | 128.1 | 10.1 | 8.3 | 3.2 | 2.5 |
| Fin, Ins, Real Estate, Leasing | 139.9 | 137.6 | 129.4 | 2.3 | 1.7 | 10.5 | 8.1 |
| Prof, Sci, Tech Services | 168.9 | 166.8 | 171.6 | 2.1 | 1.3 | -2.7 | -1.6 |
| Mngmt, Admin, Other Support | 96.7 | 111.2 | 90.3 | -14.5 | -13.0 | 6.4 | 7.1 |
| Education Services | 159.9 | 156.1 | 151.3 | 3.8 | 2.4 | 8.6 | 5.7 |
| Health/Social Ass't | 243.2 | 233.9 | 213.2 | 9.3 | 4.0 | 30.0 | 14.1 |
| Info, Culture & Rec | 116.2 | 113.6 | 113.2 | 2.6 | 2.3 | 3.0 | 2.7 |
| Accom & food serv | 173.1 | 179.8 | 173.9 | -6.7 | -3.7 | -0.8 | -0.5 |
| Other Services | 89.0 | 88.4 | 89.2 | 0.6 | 0.7 | -0.2 | -0.2 |
| Public Admin | 91.4 | 96.0 | 93.3 | -4.6 | -4.8 | -1.9 | -2.0 |
| February 2007 | January 2007 | February 2006 | MC (#) | MC (%) | YC (#) | YC (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 2,252.9 | 2,250.2 | 2,176.3 | 2.7 | 0.1 | 76.6 | 3.5 |
| Employee (000) | 1,829.1 | 1,822.3 | 1,767.4 | 6.8 | 0.4 | 61.7 | 3.5 |
| Public | 404.7 | 402.5 | 375.3 | 2.2 | 0.5 | 29.4 | 7.8 |
| Private | 1,424.4 | 1,419.8 | 1,392.1 | 4.6 | 0.3 | 32.3 | 2.3 |
| Self-Employed (000) | 423.8 | 427.9 | 408.9 | -4.1 | -1.0 | 14.9 | 3.6 |
| February 2007 | January 2007 | February 2006 | MC (#) | YC (#) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Both - 15+ Yrs | 4.0 | 4.3 | 4.7 | -0.3 | -0.7 |
| Both - 15-24 Yrs | 7.8 | 8.7 | 7.6 | -0.9 | 0.2 |
| Both - 25+ Yrs | 3.3 | 3.5 | 4.1 | -0.2 | -0.8 |
| Men - 15+ Yrs | 3.7 | 3.8 | 4.4 | -0.1 | -0.7 |
| Men - 15-24 Yrs | 8.0 | 8.7 | 8.2 | -0.7 | -0.2 |
| Men - 25+ Yrs | 2.8 | 2.8 | 3.7 | 0.0 | -0.9 |
| Women - 15+ Yrs | 4.5 | 4.9 | 4.9 | -0.4 | -0.4 |
| Women - 15-24 Yrs | 7.6 | 8.8 | 7.0 | -1.2 | 0.6 |
| Women - 25+ Yrs | 3.8 | 4.2 | 4.5 | -0.4 | -0.7 |
| February 2007 | January 2007 | February 2006 | MC (#) | YC (#) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | 6.1 | 6.2 | 6.3 | -0.1 | -0.2 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 14.3 | 15.4 | 15.1 | -1.1 | -0.8 |
| Prince Edward Island | 10.1 | 10.7 | 10.9 | -0.6 | -0.8 |
| Nova Scotia | 7.4 | 7.8 | 8.4 | -0.4 | -1.0 |
| New Brunswick | 6.9 | 8.1 | 9.4 | -1.2 | -2.5 |
| Quebec | 7.8 | 7.7 | 8.2 | 0.1 | -0.4 |
| Ontario | 6.3 | 6.4 | 6.2 | -0.1 | 0.1 |
| Manitoba | 4.3 | 4.6 | 4.3 | -0.3 | 0.0 |
| Saskatchewan | 4.0 | 4.1 | 5.3 | -0.1 | -1.3 |
| Alberta | 3.5 | 3.3 | 3.2 | 0.2 | 0.3 |
| British Columbia | 4.0 | 4.3 | 4.7 | -0.3 | -0.7 |
| Abbotsford | 4.3 | 4.2 | 4.5 | 0.1 | -0.2 |
| Vancouver | 4.2 | 4.8 | 4.8 | -0.6 | -0.6 |
| Victoria | 3.1 | 3.2 | 4.0 | -0.1 | -0.9 |
| February 2007 | January 2007 | February 2006 | MC (#) | YC (#) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | 6.3 | 6.1 | 6.7 | 0.2 | -0.4 |
| British Columbia | 4.6 | 4.6 | 5.1 | 0.0 | -0.5 |
| 910 Vancouver Island | 5.3 | 4.8 | 5.3 | 0.5 | 0.0 |
| 920 Lower Mainland - SW | 4.2 | 4.3 | 4.8 | -0.1 | -0.6 |
| 930 Thompson Okanagan | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 940 Kootenay | 6.8 | 7.2 | 7.2 | -0.4 | -0.4 |
| 950 Cariboo | 5.3 | 5.8 | 5.8 | -0.5 | -0.5 |
| 960/970 N. Coast/Nechako | 7.1 | 6.0 | 9.7 | 1.1 | -2.6 |
| 980 Northeast | - - | - - | - - | - - | - - |
| Vancouver CMA | 4.1 | 4.3 | 4.8 | -0.2 | -0.7 |
| Victoria CMA | 2.9 | 3.1 | 3.8 | -0.2 | -0.9 |
| Abbotsford (Matsqui) | 4.7 | 4.3 | 5.0 | 0.4 | -0.3 |
Strategic Services
HRSDC Regional Office
300 West Georgia Street,
Vancouver, B.C. V6H 1R1
