BC, Canada loses jobs in February; unemployment rates stable
Posted March 7, 2014 7:53 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – February was a disappointing month for employment in BC and Canada in general.
Statistics Canada says BC lost 10,400 jobs last month on a seasonally adjusted basis, about evenly split between full and part-time work. The unemployment rate did not change; it’s still 6.4 per cent, partly due to a small decrease in people looking for work.
While numbers can vary widely from month month, BC is also doing poorly on a year-over-year basis.
“Six provinces, including BC, have actually seen a decline in employment over the last 12 months. So, we’ve got this exceptional situation where Alberta is absolutely booming and everybody else is struggling to see any kind of job growth,” says Bank of Montreal chief economist Doug Porter.
StatsCan says the province lost 19,200 full-time jobs compared to the previous February, partly offset by a gain of 11,600 part-time positions. The participation rate was down nine tenths of a per cent.
The nationwide jobless rate was also unchanged at seven per cent, but 7,000 jobs were lost.
The median of economists’ expectations was for a 15,000-job increase.
Public sector employment declined while there was little change in the private sector, including self-employment.
StatsCan says “there were 20,000 fewer men aged 25 to 54 working in February, bringing employment to virtually the same level as that of 12 months earlier.”
