British Columbia’s unemployment rate grew to 6.1% in August from 5.9% in July, Statistics Canada announced September 5.
This increase is due to more people entering the workforce and does not reflect a decrease in jobs as 1,800 positions were actually added over the month. However, this number includes a 14,400 plunge in the number of full-time jobs, offset by a 16,200 increase in part-time positions.
Year-over-year, the unemployment rate fell by 0.5 percentage points as 13,200 jobs were added over the last 12 months.
Canada-wide, the unemployment rate stayed the same at 7.0%, reflecting a drop of 11,000 jobs – both full- and part-time – and also a decrease of 20,800 people in the workforce. This comes after a revised figure of 41,700 jobs being added in July.
Private-sector employment dropped by 111,800 jobs in August – the biggest decrease on record.
Over the past 12 months, 81,000 jobs have been added across Canada, most of which are part-time.
Overall, the numbers were soft, said CIBC World Markets Economics’ Avery Shenfeld, “that will take at least a bit of a shine off what has been an improving picture for Canada.”
StatsCan also announced productivity data September 5, reporting that labour productivity across Canada increased 1.8% over 2014’s second quarter. This is a measure of real GDP per hour worked. Hourly compensation increased 2.0% over the same period.
As of press time, the Canadian dollar was trading at 91.85 cents U.S., reflecting little change from 91.84 as of September 4.
