BURSTB.C. shed 5,500 jobs in August, with an even steeper decline in full-time employment, which decreased by 26,000 jobs from July to August.
As a result, B.C.’s unemployment rate ticked up 0.3 percentage points to 6.5 per cent, according to the latest Labour Force Survey released by Statistics Canada on Friday, Sept. 4. This is also 0.2 percentage points higher than the same time last year.
The addition of 20,600 part-time jobs masked the far greater losses in full-time employment.
Nationally, Canada lost 42,000 jobs in August, although the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.4 per cent.
Adrian Dix, B.C.’s acting jobs minister, brushed off the monthly loss, pointing out gains across the past three months.
“Any negative results are not positive for people, but over a period of months, we see much more stability in those markets and over the year, obviously, we’ve seen an increase in full-time employment of about 20,000,” he said.
Nevertheless, Dix says these numbers point to the need to diversify British Columbia’s economy to insulate its market from trade shocks. The United States and Canada were working on a trade deal to avoid new U.S. tariffs until Aug. 21, when the deal fell apart and thrust both countries into economic uncertainty.
“We’ve got to become more resilient and more independent,” Dix said.
Kiel Giddens, B.C. Conservative labour and economic development critic, points to a year-over-year loss of 17,200 natural resources jobs combined with the month-to-month full-time numbers as evidence the province is losing the type of well-paying jobs families rely on.
“Obviously, the 26,000 full-time job losses are something to keep an eye on because of the fact these are the jobs that put food on the table for families,” he said. “Full-time work is absolutely essential.”
Giddens represents Prince George-Mackenzie, where forestry jobs have long dominated the local economy. But that sector is in free fall, decimated by lack of access to economically viable timber and the expansion of the tariffs and duties imposed by the United States.
“The job losses we’ve seen in natural resources, there’s more to come,” he said.
Giddens wants the forestry industry treated like a major project, with permits fast-tracked and a national focus boosting the sector.
Dix highlights major projects when pointing to the province’s economic positives, particularly the growth of the liquefied natural gas sector over the past nine years, and the electrification effort he is overseeing as energy minister to power that and the expansion of critical minerals extraction.
But Giddens wonders why the province is only on par with the rest of Canada in job growth, considering its intrinsic edge.
“B.C. has all of the natural advantages, like access to tidewater, the best natural resources in the country,” he said. “We should be absolutely leading the country, not following the trend.”