While Canada’s unemployment rate held steady at 6.6%, British Columbia saw a drop to 5.4% in December from 5.8% in November.
The province saw the addition of 2,200 jobs over the month, Statistics Canada announced January 9. Of these gains, more than 22,300 full-time positions were added. This was offset by a drop in part-time positions of around 20,100.
However, much of the decline in the provincial unemployment rate was due to a decrease in the labour force, which fell by 9,100 individuals.
Year-over-year, B.C.’s unemployment rate fell by 1.2 percentage points from 6.6%.
Robert Kavcic, senior economist and vice-president economic research at BMO Capital Markets, said the sharp drop in B.C.’s unemployment rate could be indicative of an overall favourable trend.
“It’s within the realm of possibility that B.C. witnesses its jobless rate fade below Alberta’s in the year or two ahead,” he said.
Alberta saw a 0.2 percentage point increase in its jobless rate to 4.7%.
Nationwide, there was a drop of 4,300 jobs, which was due to a decrease in part-time positions. December’s data fell short of analysts’ expectations, which were that the country would see a gain of 15,000 jobs.
Canada’s unemployment rate remained steady as the labour force shrank by just over 11,000. The news wasn’t all bleak because almost 54,000 full-time positions were added. The number of part-time jobs fell by close to 58,000.
The biggest drop in employment was in accommodation and food services, which lost almost 33,000 jobs in December. Manufacturing (down 18,000) and public administration (down 14,200) saw the biggest losses. These were partially offset by growth in public administration jobs and agriculture, both up by more than 14,000.
The unemployment rate fell by 0.6 percentage points across the country in the 12 months to December from 7.2% a year ago.
“Despite the lacklustre ending to 2014, on balance, conditions improved in the second half of the year, as large job gains were recorded in three of the last six months of the year,” said RBC Economics assistant chief economist Dawn Desjardins.
“The strengthening in hiring activity in the second half of 2014 corresponded to the economy running at an above-potential pace, and we expect that 2015 will yield close to the same amount of job creation.”
Desjardins said falling oil prices will hurt Alberta’s employment numbers, but could provide an offsetting improvement to other regions of the country, such as Ontario.
Job numbers from the United States were also released January 9, with the country as a whole closing the year with a 5.6% unemployment rate – a full percentage point lower than in Canada. This contrast translates into a further softening of the Canadian dollar, which, as of press time, was at 84.22 cents U.S., down from 84.65 just prior to the announcement.
Desjardins said overall, strong growth in the U.S. could put pressure on the Bank of Canada to raise the overnight rate, but that this will likely not take place until 2015’s third quarter.
