B.C.’s labour market firmed in November with a strong gain in employment and declining jobless rate.
That said, the numbers are somewhat stale given the sharp rise in COVID-19 cases since the early November reference period. Additional social restrictions and a drag on consumer sentiment should slow December growth.
B.C. added 23,900 jobs in November, marking a 1% gain but a deacceleration from October’s 1.4% increase. This far exceeded the national increase of 0.3%, and among large provinces, B.C. posted the strongest gain. With the latest increase, the gap from pre-pandemic employment narrowed to 1.5% from February levels to fare much better than the 3% national gap. B.C. unemployment declined sharply to 7.1% as the labour force was largely unchanged.
Metro Vancouver employment growth outpaced the rest of the province with a 1.2% (13,800-person) employment gain.
Full-time work accounted for all of the provincial gain, with levels up 42,100 persons as part-time employment fell, reflecting increased hiring and more hours as the economy heals.
The accommodations and foodservices sector accounted for nearly one-third of the net gain, with trade and transportation sectors also gaining. Information/culture/recreation and manufacturing shed jobs.
Employment performance relative to February remains divergent. Sectors such as resources, agriculture and manufacturing are above pre-pandemic levels while those with greater ability to transition to remote work have broadly recovered. More resources to keep schools safe have also lifted education employment. In contrast, sectors still dragging are those associated with building closures, weak hospitality sectors and other hard-to-distance activities.
The hardest-hit sectors, such as tourism, require a vaccine to be made widely available before consumers are confident and social restrictions are lifted.
The average regional house price, meanwhile, reached $1.01 million, up 11.6% year over year. The Multiple Listing Service Housing Price Index, which adjusts for housing characteristics, rose 0.2% from October and 6.4% from same-month 2019. However, this was driven by detached homes (up 1.2% from October and 10.3% year over year), while apartment prices fell 0.7% from the previous month and rose 3.6% year over year. •
Bryan Yu is deputy chief economist at Central 1 Credit Union.
