While tourism, one of the region’s major employers, continued to struggle amid the pandemic last month, Greater Victoria’s unemployment rate improved slightly to 5.8 per cent in December, versus 6.3 per cent in November, Statistics Canada said in its monthly labour force survey.
That glimmer of hope came even though the B.C. tourism industry shed 7,400 jobs in December compared with the previous month, and is down 16,800 jobs from December 2019.
Statistics Canada said the Greater Victoria labour market contracted last month, with 203,700 people available to work, compared with 206,000 in November and 205,700 in December 2019. The total number of people employed in the region was 191,900 last month, down from 193,000 in November and 198,800 in December 2019.
Provincewide, there was little change in the employment picture as gains in full-time employment were offset by losses in part-time work.
The province’s unemployment rate was 7.4 per cent in December, versus 7.8 in November.
The largest gains in B.C. were in construction, which added 6,600 jobs in December, though that sector still has 28,000 fewer workers employed than it did at the same time last year.
The manufacturing sector also added 3,300 jobs in December.
Accommodation and food services was not the only sector to take a hit — the finance, real estate and leasing sector shed 5,700 positions in December.
Ravi Kahlon, minister of Jobs, Economy Recovery and Innovation, said the province saw some gains but it’s not out of the woods yet.
While B.C. added 24,000 full-time jobs across various sectors, including construction and manufacturing, about 20,000 part-time jobs were lost, he said.
“B.C.’s total employment has now bounced back to 98.7 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, but certain sectors like tourism and hospitality are still struggling,” Kahlon said, adding: “We are also seeing disproportionate impacts on people of colour who are both business owners and employees.”
The country posted its first monthly decline in jobs since April amid tightened public health restrictions in December, and economists warn the losses are likely to continue as the number of new COVID-19 cases continue to rise.
Statistics Canada said Friday the economy lost 63,000 jobs in December, while the unemployment rate edged up to 8.6 per cent, compared with 8.5 per cent in November.
“Due to both the continuing rise in virus cases to open the new year and the further curtailments of activity since the last survey, another month of job losses could be on the horizon in January,” CIBC senior economist Royce Mendes said.
“The weak jobs report, combined with the recent appreciation of the Canadian dollar, will put pressure on the Bank of Canada to ease monetary policy further.”
The report was a snapshot of labour market conditions for the week of Dec. 6 to 12. It noted that additional public health measures were put in place in many provinces after that period, which will likely be reflected in its January labour force survey results.
Several provinces have also further extended COVID-19 restrictions as public health officials blamed holiday gatherings for a rise in infections.
TD Bank senior economist Sri Thanabalasingam said the resurgence of the virus is hitting Canada hard.
“Sharp increases in caseloads and hospitalizations are leaving provinces with little choice but to impose or prolong restrictions on an economy that is but a shadow of itself,” Thanabalasingam wrote in a report.
“It will be a rocky road for the Canadian economy until vaccines can be widely distributed and normal life can resume.”
The job losses in December ended a streak of monthly job gains that began in May as restrictions put in place to slow the spread of the pandemic began to ease.
Full-time employment in December rose by 36,500, but there was a loss of 99,000 part-time jobs. Total hours worked also fell for the first time since April, with a decline of 0.3 per cent.
At its peak last spring, the COVID-19 economic shutdown directly affected 5.5 million Canadian workers, including three million who had lost their jobs and 2.5 million who were employed but had experienced COVID-related absences from work.
— With The Canadian Press
