Despite unemployment hovering around 8%, B.C.’s job market is picking up, BC Human Resources Management Association (BCHRMA) director of research and learning Ian Cook recently told Business in Vancouver.
“Organizations have gone through the crisis, they’ve started to reset their strategies, they’re now starting to invest in plans to deliver on those strategies,” Cook said. “They’re looking for the best talent they can afford, so there are more vacancies up there.”
He said the statistics BCHRMA tracks indicate that – in B.C., Ontario, Alberta and Manitoba – employers will increasingly have to focus on retaining their staff.
“Increases in the vacancy rate, the absenteeism rate, and the increase in voluntary turnover tend to indicate that the job market is heating back up. If organizations are looking at the unemployment number, around 8%, and going ‘I don’t have to worry,’ they’re misguided.”
Cook noted the unemployment rate can paint a false picture, because it’s affected by pure population growth. Also, he said, it lags what’s really happening.
“It’s going to take a while for that [unemployment rate] to reduce, even as the jobs start to flow and the opportunities start to flow.”
See BIV’s upcoming April 19 edition for how BCHRMA is driving a local trend to help organizations quantify and address HR trends to drive organizational performance.