B.C. employment growth aligned with the national improvement in June as Phase 2 of the province’s restart plan in effect since May 19 lifted rehiring.
Reopening of restaurants, various personal services, child care and offices with ongoing support from the Canadian Emergency Wage Subsidy program contributed to a 5.4% increase in employment (118,100 persons). Over the past two months, B.C. has recouped about 40% of the job loss, although levels were still 9.2% lower than February. Year-over-year, employment declined 10%.
The bulk of June’s gain came in the part-time sector, which expanded by 101,700 persons (26.2%) as full-time employment rose only 16,400 (0.9%). This reflects rehiring in hard-hit service sectors at potentially reduced hours.
Accommodations and foodservices employment rose 57% as restaurants reopened and hotels brought back workers in anticipation of reopenings. This sector contributed to nearly half of the net increase.
Other sectors with notable gains included personal services, professional/scientific/technical services and wholesale/retail trade.
Nevertheless, the unemployment rate declined by only 0.4 percentage points to 13% as more unemployed individuals searched for jobs during the month. B.C.’s unemployment rate exceeded the national rate of 12.3%.
Metro Vancouver generated more than half of provincial employment gains in June, with 67,600 individuals, or 5.6%, back to work.
That said, the region has experienced steeper job losses than the rest of the province. Employment is still 13% lower than it was in February, and the unemployment rate is 14.2%. This reflects an economy more heavily weighted to tourism and other hard hit service sectors.
The recovery is heading in the right direction but there remains much ground to recover. Outside a handful of sectors that have expanded or held steady, reflecting infrastructure projects and natural physical distancing, employment remains sharply lower in most sectors.
The pace of improvement will slow and crest as the economy moves to a new normal, which will continue to promote physical distancing, reduced capacity at retail and restaurants and international travel restrictions. •
Bryan Yu is deputy chief economist at Central 1 Credit Union.
