BC/Yukon Region - Labour Force Survey - May 2007

• BC Leads in Employment Growth
• Returning Students Age 15 to 24 Years in May 2007
• 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 Leads in Employment Growth

For the second month in a row there was little change in employment at the national level in May. But in BC, employment growth returned with 14,000 more jobs, all full-time, after an April loss of 16,000 part-time jobs. The gain in full-time work brought employment in that category to a new record level, exceeding 1.8 million for the first time.

The overall unemployment rate of 4.2% is just slightly higher than the historic low of 3.9% reached in March. Among young people, aged 15 to 24, their rate of 6.8% in May is second only to the 6.7% reached in November 2005. Unemployment rates for adults over 25 and prime aged workers 25 to 54 years were both under 4%, and just half a percentage point above their all time lows reached in March of this year.

Employment gains in May were mostly in the service producing sectors, but the construction industry reached a new record level of employment, 200,000 jobs, a gain of 3% from April and 14% from last May. Manufacturing lost 5,000 jobs, but is still above its level of a year ago, and has done better than manufacturing industries in Central Canada. The jobs gains since last year, some 71,000 jobs, are split almost equally between goods and service producing sectors, an unusual situation.

Employment growth in British Columbia

British Columbia (+2.0%) leads the way for employment growth so far this year, with New Brunswick (+1.9%), Alberta (+1.8%), Quebec (+1.3%) and Manitoba (+1.3%) also above the national average...

Employment in British Columbia increased by an estimated 14,000 in May, bringing year-to-date gains to 45,000 (+2.0%). Employment growth so far in 2007 has been in construction, trade, and information, culture and recreation. The unemployment rate in this province was 4.2% in May.

Source: Statistics Canada Daily, June 8, 2007

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Returning Students Age 15 to 24 Years in May 2007

May is the first of four summer months during which there is an important full-time job market for young students. It involves students from universities, community and career colleges, trade and vocational institutes, and by July, secondary schools as well. For the past ten years BC returning students, aged 15 to 24 years, have faced a weaker job market than they had in the late 1980s or early 1990s, and a weaker job market than the average across Canada, as measured by their employment rate.

In May of this year, the employment rate for returning students across Canada was 47.2%, the highest figure for May in the last 16 years. In BC it was a very comparable 46.2%. BC returning students still had a slightly lower employment rate than in Ontario (48%) or the Prairies (over 50%), but they had succeeded after a decade in effectively catching up to the mational average. In terms of the unemployment rate the provincial job market for students was much improved, with an observed unemployment rate of just 9.8%, a full five points below that Canada wide figure of 15.2% and the lowest seen in any province this May. In recent years there had been much less difference between the BC and Canadian unemployment rates for returning students than was seen for their employment rates, where BC was as much as seven to nine percentage points below the national average.

By way of comparison, non-student youth in the same 15 to 24 year age category had an unemployment rate in BC in May of 6.5%, and an employment rate of 83.7%.