Greater Victoria’s unemployment rate in December was unchanged from the previous month at 4.1 per cent as economic growth softened nationally late in the year.
Several sectors experienced job growth year-over-year, including construction, which saw employment climb to 17,800 last month from 16,500 in 2022, , according to Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey for the month.
Public administration jobs moved up to 37,200 in December from 36,400 the previous year.
Manufacturing jobs rose to 7,200 last month, up from 6,400 in December 2022.
Wholesale and retail trade numbers rose to 33,800 jobs from 32,400 over 12 months.
Other sectors recorded declines, however, including accommodation and food services, which ended December with 16,500 jobs, down from 17,300 in 2022.
Health care and services slid to 37,600 jobs last month from 38,300 in December of 2022.
Professional, scientific and technical services employment also declined, to 17,600 jobs from 19,500 a year earlier.
Brenda Bailey, provincial minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation, noted that B.C. led the country in job growth in December.
Last year, the province added 74,000 new jobs, which Bailey called some of the highest job growth in the country, adding that B.C.’s gains came through full-time work.
The province’s unemployment rate of 5.6 per cent is among the lower ones in the country, said Bailey, adding B.C.’s self-employment increase in 2023 is the highest among all provinces. “We also have the second-highest private-sector employment increase among provinces in December, following another strong month for private-sector job growth in November.”
In 2023, B.C. added 40,100 private-sector and self-employed jobs.
Nationally, job growth stalled in December as the total number of jobs in Canada was virtually unchanged for the month and the unemployment rate held steady at 5.8 per cent for the final month of the year.
Statistics Canada said Friday in its monthly labour force survey that the economy added a total of 100 jobs in the final month of 2023.
The result came as the number of full-time jobs fell by 23,500 in December, offset by a gain of 23,600 part-time jobs.
Bank of Montreal chief economist Doug Porter said the report comes after months of job growth that seemingly “defied gravity” as economic growth slowed.
“The overall economy really has been struggling to grow and it was a bit of an oddity that employment had held up so well,” Porter said.
“But the softness that we’ve seen in the economy is now starting to catch up with the job market.”
The weaker job market conditions came as high interest rates continued to weigh on economic growth.
The Canadian economy shrank in the third quarter of 2023 at an annual pace of 1.1 per cent and growth was flat for a third straight month in October. Statistics Canada’s preliminary estimate for November also pointed to an increase in real GDP of just 0.1 per cent.
Tu Nguyen, an economist with accounting and consultancy firm RSM Canada, said the economy has turned a corner.
“Overall, the Canadian economy has entered a phase of stalling. A few months of challenging times are ahead before price stability is restored,” she said.
However, Nguyen said wage growth remains far above inflation.
Statistics Canada said average hourly wages in the month were up 5.4 per cent on a year-over-year basis compared with an increase of 4.8 per cent in November.
“This creates an interesting scenario for the Bank of Canada. The weaker-than-expected job report might accelerate the Bank’s decision to slash rates, but the hot wage growth does not ease concerns about sticky inflation,” Nguyen said.
The Bank of Canada held its key interest rate steady last month at five per cent.
In its summary of its deliberations, the central bank noted its governing council agreed that the likelihood that monetary policy was sufficiently restrictive to achieve its inflation target had increased, but still cautioned it was ready to raise rates if needed.
Porter, who is expecting the Bank of Canada to begin cutting interest rates in June, said the central bank would like to see the wage increase figures start to ease.
“I think ideally the bank would like to see those numbers moderating and instead they just picked up to 5.4 per cent,” Porter said.
“That’s well above inflation and really not showing any softening whatsoever and that alone would probably lead the Bank of Canada to be cautious about cutting interest rates.”
The Bank of Canada’s next interest rate decision is set for Jan. 24 when it will also release its latest monetary policy report.
Statistics Canada said overall employment growth slowed in the second half of 2023, averaging 23,000 jobs per month compared with 48,000 jobs per month in the first six months of the year.
