The capital region’s unemployment rate dropped in January to a level not seen since just before the pandemic.
The rate declined to 3.9 per cent last month from 4.3 per cent in December, Statistics Canada said in its monthly labour force survey released Friday.
In February 2020, the capital region’s unemployment rate stood at 3.7 per cent. By the end of March of that year — the month the pandemic was declared — it had risen to 4.7 per cent. It continued climbing to a high of 11.6 per cent in July 2020 before dropping again last year.
Last month, the region’s labour force — people working or looking for work — grew to 223,600 from 220,000 in December.
Job numbers grew year-over-year in several sectors in Greater Victoria, including construction, manufacturing, transportation and warehousing, and in the finance, insurance, real estate and rental and leasing category. Educational services, information, culture and recreation, and accommodation and food services also saw gains.
Public-services numbers saw a year-over-year decline.
B.C.’s unemployment rate also dropped, to 5.1 per cent from 5.4 per cent, as it saw a decrease in full-time employment and rise in part-time numbers.
Ravi Kahlon, B.C.’s minister of jobs, economic recovery and innovation, said that for the first time, January’s unemployment rate reached the level seen in February 2020, pre-pandemic. B.C. had the lowest unemployment rate among provinces.
“B.C. continues to lead the country in economic recovery, having recovered all jobs lost at the outset of the pandemic,” he said Friday.
Overall, 44,600 more people are working in the private sector than prior to the pandemic, and 54,700 more health-care and social-assistance workers are employed, he said.
However, the health-care sector is one of many still facing a shortage of workers. B.C. Ferries has been forced to cancel sailings because of a shortage of crew members.
Meanwhile, the Canadian economy lost 200,000 jobs in January amid stricter public health rules put in place to slow the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
The decrease marked the largest drop since January 2021, when the economy shed 207,800 jobs, Statistics Canada said Friday.
The job losses also pushed the national unemployment rate to 6.5 per cent in January compared with 6.0 per cent in December.
As Omicron spread across the country, governments reintroduced capacity limits and closures for workplaces such as restaurants and gyms.
The bulk of the job losses were in Ontario and Quebec, which implemented some of the strictest measures of any province.
Food services and hotels were among the hardest hit, with young people and women most affected, Statistics Canada said.
“The increase in unemployment in January was entirely due to more people on temporary lay-off or scheduled to start a job in the near future, while the number of people looking for work was little changed,” it said.
Absence due to illness rose to a record high in January, with one in 10 employees away from their post. The number of employees who worked less than half their usual hours climbed by 620,000 or two-thirds, the largest increase since March 2020.
However, Royal Bank economists Nathan Janzen and Claire Fan said they expect the impacts of Omicron to be short-lived and not extend beyond the first quarter of 2022.
Recent history may prove a guide. The wave of job losses in January 2021 was followed by a bigger rebound of 272,500 in February last year. The economy lost 198,800 jobs last April — followed by another decline in May — but bounced back with 214,600 gains in June.
“The Canadian labour market showed impressive ability to rebound after previous waves last year, and some of the prevailing conditions that helped the recovery, like elevated employer hiring appetite, remain,” Brendon Bernard, a senior economist at job-posting site Indeed, said in an email.
“With rules around indoor dining relaxing in some provinces, some of the jobs lost are likely to return quickly.”
