BC second only to AB in new job creation numbers in Canada

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – The unemployment rate barely moved, and only 73,000 new jobs were created across Canada last month. But the employment picture doesn’t look bad.

Statistics Canada has released its latest numbers.

The provincial government says BC is second only to Alberta in the number of new jobs created since June of 2011.

“The job growth is really taking place in the core areas that we believe will drive the economy” says Pat Bell, Minister of Jobs, Tourism, and Innovation, adding that Asia continues to play a major role in the provincial economy.

BC saw 2,400 new full-time jobs created last month, with another 1,100 part-time positions added.

Manufacturing and health care saw the most growth. BC’s unemployment rate sits at 6.6 per cent.

Bell says the unemployment rate for youth remains a concern.

“There’s definitely jobs out there, we know that, we’ve seen job growth in the market place” he says. “But they are not serving our youth in the way that we would like to see.”

“And we believe that that really does stem down to finding quality jobs in the trades” he adds.

He’s promising announcements about training programs in the coming months.

Tom Sigurdson with the BC/Yukon Construction Trades Council says now is a good time to start trades training.

“We know that an apprenticeship program normally takes about four years” he says. “And we know that between 2016 and 2021 there’s going to be an awful lot of construction activity across the province.”

And despite talk of cooling in the real estate market in recent months, Bob Rennie with Rennie Marketing Systems says deals are still being struck.

“There isn’t a blanket statement to cover ‘the marketplace'” he says. “I think that you’ll find in some high-end areas there are too many overpriced listings that have priced themselves according to the high-water mark, the last high sale.”

He says demand is huge for condos in the under $400,000 range.

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