The Surrey Board of Trade’s review of the March 2021 Labour Force Statistics is released.
“BC’s job recovery increased more strongly in March to grow by 35,000 jobs, but there are concerns,” said Anita Huberman, CEO, Surrey Board of Trade. “Full-time employment in BC decreased by 6,700. The youth unemployment rate in BC dropped in March from 15.0% to 12.1% with the female youth unemployment rate decreasing 4.7 percentage points to 12.9% and by one point to 11.5% for males. The youth unemployment rate in BC in March 2021 remains double that of workers 25 and over – 12.1% versus 6.0%.”
“Three industries still have pre-pandemic deficits. Construction is still down by -27,100 jobs or -10.8% since February 2020; natural resources remains at -10,000 less jobs or -23.6%, and agriculture is still down by -4,000 jobs or -13.9%.”
With BC’s continued job recovery in March 2021, the SBOT remains confident that BC is well-positioned fiscally, economically and public health-wise to survive any further adverse labour market impacts of this pandemic. This must be tempered by monitoring the job impacts of recent increased public health restrictions and increased COVID cases driven by variants of the virus.
With increased controls in place, a continued ramp up of vaccinations in the coming weeks amid eventual easing of health measures, there should be optimism and expectations of further economic recovery and labour market improvements in BC.
As the Surrey Board of Trade has previously cautioned, economic recovery will require effective public policies and support, innovative business practices, increased digital transformation, business resilience and a collaborative approach to economic recovery among governments, businesses, workers and public sector service providers.
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MORE INFORMATION:
SURREY BUSINESS LEADERSHIP PERSPECTIVE
BC Labour Force Survey Data
Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey, March 2021 (Released April 9, 2021)
Overall – Canada
· The March Labour Force Survey (LFS) data reflects labour market conditions during the week of March 14 to 20, 2021.
· The economic and employment recovery across the country was stronger in March, with job growth in 7 provinces including BC, Ontario and Quebec; perhaps partially from easing of public health restrictions in many provinces. Industries across the country which benefited from public health easing saw job growth over the last month (e.g. accommodation and food services, construction, culture and recreation and retail). Given this has since reversed in late-March/early April, we might expect slower growth in April employment numbers.
· Employment in Canada increased by 303,000 (+1.6%) in March 2021, bringing current employment to within 1.5% (-296,000) of the country’s pre-pandemic February 2020 level. However, this is a 16.7% increase or +2.69 million jobs since the low of April 2020.
· Canada’s national unemployment rates fell to 7.5% (-0.7%), the lowest since February 2020.
· Both part-time (+128,000 or +3.9%) and full-time (+175,000 or +1.2%) employment increased. Self-employment increased for the first time in 3 months, up 56,000 or +2.1%
· The number of long-term unemployed in Canada remained steady in March with 286,000 more people employed on a long-term basis than in February 2020 (+160%).
· While Canadians working from home decreased by 200,000 in March 2021, 5 million persons were still working from home that month (27% of total employment), of which 2.9 million reported they were doing so on a temporary basis.
· Total hours worked increased again by 2.0% (driven by education, retail, construction and other industries), after two months of increases since April 2020 or within 1.2% of February 2020 levels.
· Further good news from Statistics Canada:
“In March, the labour underutilization rate fell 1.9 percentage points to 14.7%, the lowest level since February 2020. All components of labour underutilization decreased, including those who were employed but worked less than half their usual hours (-159,000; -13.1%); those on temporary layoff or with arrangements to start a job in the near future (-106,000; -41.2%); those who wanted a job but did not look for one (-57,000; -10.3%); and job searchers
(-42,000; -3.0%).”
Overall – BC
· BC’s job recovery increased more strongly in March to grow by 35,000 jobs or a 1.3% increase, the largest monthly increase since September 2020.
· This means BC has had increased employment of over 430,500 jobs (or +19.3%) since the BC recovery started in April, a monthly average of almost 1.8% over the last 11 months.
· The pre-pandemic jobs deficit in BC is now at -19,900 jobs or -0.8% below this baseline. While the number of unemployed British Columbians has dropped by 32% or 92,800 since April 2020, there are still 56,200 more unemployed persons or 40% more than in February 2020.
· BC’s unemployment rate remained at 6.9% in March 2021, still the lowest since pre-pandemic 5.1% in February 2020, and almost half the rate during the peak of 13.4% in May 2020.
· The BC unemployment rate remains below the national average of 7.5% and below many other provinces.
Goods-Producing Industries
· BC’s goods-producing industries gained 14,300 jobs or +3.0% since February 2021. While up 46,600 jobs or a 10.4% increase since April 2020, BC goods jobs remain down by 7,900 or -1.6% since pre-pandemic February 2020.
· Other than small decreases in employment since February 2021, manufacturing (+6,600 or +3.9%), construction (+6,000 or +2.8%) and natural resource industries (+2,900 or +5.9%) all grew in March.
· Three industries still have pre-pandemic deficits. Construction is still down by -27,100 jobs or
-10.8% since February 2020; natural resources remain at -10,000 less jobs (-23.6%) and agriculture is still down by -4,000 jobs or -13.9%.
· Manufacturing and utilities employment are above February 2020 job level at +9,300 (+5.6%) and +3,800 (+24.7%), respectively.
· The BC goods sectors has recovered 46,600 jobs or by 10.4% since the April 2020 employment trough.
Service-Producing Industries
· Employment in the service-producing industries in BC increased by 20,700 jobs (+1.0%) in March 2021 (meaning a total recovery of over 383,900 jobs or +21.5% since April 2020). The service jobs in BC now exceed the February 2020 pre-pandemic baseline by 27,700 or +1.3%, representing large recoveries in many sectors.
· Except professional, scientific and technical services (PSTS) (-3,400 or -1.3%), public administration (-7,100 or -5.1%) and educational services (-800 or -0.4%), all other services increased employment in March 2021 over the previous month. This was led by other services (+9,300 or +2.7%), health care & social assistance (+9,000 or +3.2%) and retail and wholesale trade (+4,300 or +1.1%).
· Unfortunately, despite the job recovery since April 2020 by service industries in BC, all other service industries are below February 2020 employment levels except for PSTS which is up +31,400 or +14.1% since the pandemic began:
– Accommodation and food service is down by -23,400 or -11.6% since February 2020
– Health care and social assistance: -21,600 or -6.5%
– Public administration: -16,500 or -14.4%
– Educational services: -10,400 or -5.7%
– Retail and wholesale trade: -8,800 or -2.1%
· The good news for the BC services sector involves some huge recovery among hard hit industries. By March 2021, accommodation and food service is up +86,800 or +95.5% in employment since April 2020. Other services (+85,100 or +32.0%), retail and wholesale (+69,400 or +4.3%), and health care and social services (+47,800 or +15.7%) are all showing significant job recovery since the height of COVID job impacts. All other service industries show 5-digit job growth since April 2020.
Occupations
· Employment growth and changes by occupation in BC was a story of two worlds. While most occupational categories saw unemployment rates well below the provincial average in March 2021, two exceptions are sales and service (8.5%) and trades, transport and equipment operators (6.6%) due to their prevalence in the most impacted sectors (i.e. accommodation and food, retail, other services and construction).
· Biggest job gains over the last month were in: business and finance (+17,500 or +4.2%); arts, culture, recreation and sport (ACRS) (+16,400 or +19.8%; management (+5,000 or +2.1%); sales and service (+4,900 or +0.8%); and natural resources and agriculture (+4,200 or +9.0%).
· Except management, sales and service and trades and transport jobs, all other occupational categories have employment levels (some well) above February 2020:
– Natural and applied science positions have employment of 51,600 or 25.1% above pre-pandemic levels
– Education, law, social, community and government (ELSCG) – Up 22,200 or +8.2%
– Business, finance and administration positions – Up 12,600 or +3.0%
– Health positions – Up 11,500 or +5.9%
– ACRS positions – Up 5,900 or +6.3%
· Conversely, sales and service positions and trades and transports positions are down by 66,700 or -9.8% and 18,400 or -4.8% since the pandemic.
· As of March 2021, all 10 occupational categories in BC are appreciably above the April 2020 employment levels, with job recovery being led by: sales and service (167,100 or 37.4%); natural and applied sciences (80,500 or 15.5%); business and finance (64,000 or 17.5%); ELSCG (43,5000 or 17.4%); and ACRS (20,300 or 25.7%).
Regions
· Four of the 5 regions outside the more populated Mainland/Southwest and Vancouver Island/Coast all experienced small drops in unemployment rates in March 2021. While the North Coast/Nechako region remained at 8.5%, Vancouver’s rose 3 percentage points to 8.1% and Victoria’s increased from 5.1% to 5.9%.
· While Vancouver Island/Coast employment is now almost at pre-pandemic levels, Mainland/Southwest region’s job level is still 24,700 or 1.5% below February 2020 levels. Kootenay, Cariboo and North Coast/Nechako all have employment above February 2020 levels while the Northeast region is almost at par in jobs in that month, and Thompson-Okanagan remains with 4,500 or 1.6% less jobs then before the pandemic.
· The only BC metropolitan area with job levels above February 2020 in March 2021 is Abbotsford-Mission with 3,300 or 3.1% more employment.
Age, Gender and Other
· The youth (15-24) unemployment rate in BC dropped in March from 15.0% to 12.1%. in February 2021. Female youth unemployment rate decreased 4.7 percentage points to 12.9% in March 2021; and 12.5% to 11.5% for males.
· While male youth in BC have an unemployment rate lower (11.5%) than in February 2020 (11.7%) for the first time, female youth’s rate is almost double since the pandemic began (12.9% in March 2021 versus 6.9% in February 2020).
· The youth unemployment rate in BC in March 2021 remains double that of workers 25 and over (12.1% versus 6.0%).
· In terms of employment levels, most job gains in March 2021 were made by youth, with male youth jobs increasing by 10,100 and female youth jobs by 13,200. This represents two-thirds (67%) of BC’s employment growth in the last month. The number of unemployed male and female youth declined in March 2021, but there are still 14,100 more unemployed youth in BC compared to before the pandemic – this is mostly from a growth in unemployed female youth of 12,600 or 97.7% since February 2020.
· Full-time employment in BC decreased by 6,700 or -3.3% in March 2021; and part-time jobs increased by 41,800 or +7.3%, pushing the percentage of part-time as a proportion of total employment to 23.1% up from 21.8% in February 2021 (and 21.0% in February 2020). Women’s part-time rate is now double men’s in BC – 31.4% versus 15.5%.
· While full-time employment increased by 228,500 jobs (+12.%) in BC, it is still down by 39,700
(-1.9%) since before the pandemic. Interestingly, part-time as a proportion of total employment was at its lowest (18.5%) in April 2020, a time in which we had the biggest job losses.
· In terms of ‘class of worker’, public sector employment dropped by 8,300 or -2.3% in March 2021; while private sector jobs increased by 10,500 or +0.6% and self-employment rose sharply by 37,100 jobs or +8.2%. However, public jobs are still 51,400 (+10.7%) higher now than in February 2020; and conversely, private sector jobs are down 42,900 or -2.5% since the pandemic.
· In addition to its sizable job growth in March 2021, the self-employment category now represents a 2.4% increase since the pandemic started for a net gain of 11,300 jobs.
Summary
· BC’s job recovery increased more strongly in March to grow by 35,000 jobs or a 1.3% increase, the largest monthly since September 2020. This means BC has had increased employment of over 430,500 jobs (or +19.3%) since the BC recovery started in April.
· BC’s goods-producing industries gained 14,300 jobs or +3.0% since February 2021. While up 46,600 jobs or a 10.4% increase since April 2020, BC goods jobs remain down by 7,900 or -1.6% since pre-pandemic February 2020.
· Employment in the service-producing industries in BC increased by 20,700 jobs (+1.0%) in March 2021 (meaning a total recovery of over 383,900 jobs +21.5% since April 2020). The service jobs in BC now exceed the February 2020 pre-pandemic baseline by 27,700 or +1.3%, representing large recoveries in many sectors.
· The good news for the BC services sector involves some huge recovery among hard hit industries. By March 2021, accommodation and food service is up +86,800 or +95.5% in employment since April 2020. Other services, retail and wholesale and health care and social services are all showing significant job recovery since the height of COVID job impacts.
· Employment growth and changes by occupation in BC was a story of two worlds. While most occupational categories saw unemployment rates well below the provincial average in March 2021, two exceptions are sales and service and trades, transport and equipment operators due to their prevalence in the most impacted sectors. Sales and service positions and trades and transports positions are down by 66,700 or -9.8% and 18,400 or -4.8% since the pandemic.
· Four of the 5 regions outside the more populated Mainland/Southwest and Vancouver Island/Coast all experienced small drops in unemployment rates in March 2021. While the North Coast/Nechako region remained at 8.5%, Vancouver’s rose 3 percentage points to 8.1% and Victoria’s increased from 5.1% to 5.9%.
· The youth (15-24) unemployment rate in BC dropped in March from 15.0% to 12.1%. in February 2021. Female youth unemployment rate decreased 4.7 percentage points to 12.9% in March 2021; and 12.5% to 11.5% for males. While male youth in BC have an unemployment rate lower (11.5%) than in February 2020 (11.7%) for the first time, female youth’s rate is almost double since the pandemic (12.9% in March 2021 versus 6.9% in February 2020). The youth unemployment rate in BC in March 2021 remains double that of workers 25 and over (12.1% versus 6.0%).
· Full-time employment in BC decreased by 6,700 or -3.3% in March 2021; and part-time jobs increased by 41,800 or +7.3%, pushing the percentage of part-time as a proportion of total employment to 23.1% up from 21.8% in February 2021 (and 21.0% in February 2020). Women’s part-time rate is now double men’s in BC – 31.4% versus 15.5%.
· Public sector employment dropped by 8,300 or -2.3% in March 2021; while private sector jobs increased by 10,500 or +0.6% and self-employment rose sharply by 37,100 jobs or +8.2%. However, public jobs are still 51,400 (+10.7%) higher now than in February 2020; and conversely, private sector jobs are down 42,900 or -2.5% since the pandemic.
· With BC’s continued job recovery in March 2021, the SBOT remains confident that BC is well-positioned fiscally, economically and public health-wise to survive any further adverse labour market impacts of this pandemic. This must be tempered by monitoring the job impacts of recent increased public health restrictions and increased COVID cases driven by variants of the virus.
· With increased controls in place, a continued ramp up of vaccinations in the coming weeks amid eventual easing of health measures, there should be optimism and expectations of further economic recovery and labour market improvements in BC.
· As the SBOT has previously cautioned, “economic recovery will require effective public policies and support, innovative business practices, increased digital transformation, business resilience and a collaborative approach to economic recovery among governments, businesses, workers and public sector service providers.”
· Now that vaccines are being rolled out more rapidly in BC and Canada, governments, public health, businesses, workforces and communities must work together to expedite vaccination and develop policies that reflect this new reality and effectively expand business and work activities as more citizens are vaccinated and business restrictions are decreased and/or removed.
Source: BC Stats – Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey, March 2021. Released April 9, 2021. Retrieved from https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/data/statistics/employment-labour-market/lfs_data_tables.pdf.
Composed by:
Kerry Jothen, B.A., M.A.
CEO + Principal, HUMAN CAPITAL STRATEGIES
kjothen@humancapitalstrategies.ca
and
Anita Huberman
CEO, Surrey Board of Trade
anita@businessinsurrey.com
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