Statistics Canada’s labour force survey for June shows 118,000 people in B.C. found jobs and the unemployment rate fell slightly to 13 per cent.
Finance Minister Carol James says the latest numbers paint a picture of cautious optimism with a long road ahead on B.C.’s path to recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic.
She says job gains in May and June bring back about 40 per cent of the total number of jobs lost since February.
The greatest losses have been in the service sector, but James says that’s also where jobs are being added as accommodation and food services accounted for half of last month’s gains.
Despite positive signs, James says thousands of people and businesses are still struggling, and net job losses since the start of the pandemic stand at 235,000.
“B.C.’s June unemployment rate is down 0.4 per cent since May at 13.0 per cent. The rate stood at 5.0 per cent at the start of the pandemic in February,” said James on Friday morning.
James says youth unemployment, in particular, stands out at 29.1 per cent, up slightly since May, while 45,000 young people did find jobs last month.
“The significant number of youth who entered the labour force in June is a sign of growing confidence that people can return to work safely.”
The Minister of Finance also added that women are more likely to have lost their job than men.
During her press conference, James praised the collective effort of health officials and British Columbians, who have worked hard to flatten the curve.
“Our focus on restarting B.C.’s economy in a safe, responsible manner has also been a key contributor to our success in both battling the pandemic and gradually turning our economy around,” she said.
“The co-operation and resiliency shown by people throughout B.C. in fighting back against COVID-19 continues to make a huge impact, and thanks to British Columbians, we were recently able to shift to Phase 3 of our four-phase restart plan.”
James said the government is hoping to listen to the ideas of British Columbians in order to rebuild a strong economy with future opportunities.
With files to Canadian Press.
Graham Cox
