In a lacklustre year for Canada’s economy, British Columbia continues to outshine other provinces.
B.C. added 14,100 jobs in February, according to Statistics Canada data released March 11, keeping its unemployment rate steady at 6.6%, compared with 7.3% across Canada.
“B.C. has been the runaway job-growth leader over the past year at a strong 3% year-over-year, almost triple runner-up Ontario’s 1.1% rise,” said BMO chief economist Douglas Porter.
Porter pointed out that only three provinces in the country have seen job gains over the past year, with Quebec being the third (up 0.4%).
Overall, Canada had no growth during the month and lost 2,300 jobs, as all gains seen in B.C., Ontario and Quebec were offset by losses in resource-dependent regions. Alberta’s unemployment rate jumped to 7.9%, which was the first time since 1987 that province had a higher rate than Quebec, according to BMO’s Robert Kavcic.
“Alberta’s population growth will have to slow further in the year ahead, and migration flows will likely turn outward,” Kavcic said. “The labour market just can’t support it.”
Nationwide, the sectors with the strongest growth in February were construction, up by 34,000 jobs, and business, building and other support services, up 12,700. Healthcare and natural resources did not fare well, with decreases of 19,600 and 8,900 positions, respectively.
“After a series of mildly upbeat economic reports in Canada, today’s jobs report crashed the party,” Porter said.
“While not a big break from the underlying sluggish story over the past year, this drab report pounds home the point that the underlying economy remains soft and that job growth just can’t keep up with population gains at this stage of the cycle.”
Porter said this latest data is not likely to prompt the Bank of Canada to cut the overnight rate at this time, but having job growth that is slow or stagnant could lead to this happening at some point.
“It is not normal or healthy to have the jobless rate at 7.3% and rising when the U.S. economy is chugging along.”
The loonie dipped relative to the U.S. dollar on the news but quickly rebounded and was trading at just under 75.7 cents U.S. as of press time.
@EmmaHampelBIV
