B.C.'s job market is still growing — albeit slowly — in the face of tariffs, while federal job numbers stagnate.
"It's a really good news story for us relative to what they're seeing across Canada," Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation Minister Diana Gibson told simplymastery. "But that doesn't mean we're complacent."
B.C. added 13,000 jobs in May, but several other provinces shed jobs, according to the latest Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey released on Friday, June 6. Canada added 8,800 jobs nationally in May. Quebec lost 17,000 jobs, which helped drag down the federal number.
Gibson said this does not mean tariffs are not having an impact on B.C., and she is communicating with businesses that say they are scaling back on future investment because of lowered growth projections.
"Business doesn't like uncertainty, and definitely it's having an impact," she said.
The federal unemployment rate rose 0.1 per cent to seven per cent, and the employment rate remained steady at 60.8 per cent. This is the highest unemployment rate since 2016, excluding the pandemic.
In B.C., the employment rate rose 0.2 percentage points to 61.3 per cent, but the unemployment rate also rose by 0.2 per cent to 6.4 per cent due to population growth and increased participation in the labour force.
While it ticked up 0.1 per cent, Victoria continued to lead the top 20 census metropolitan areas with the lowest unemployment rate at 3.7 per cent.
Gibson credited Victoria's strong jobs market to the tech and tourism sectors, but acknowledged public sector employment also has an influence, particularly in times of economic uncertainty.
"The public sector is always a good automatic stabilizer," she said.
The tight housing market on the Island could also have an effect.
"It's hard for people to come here if there isn't housing," she said, making sure to note an increase in housing starts as well.
The B.C. Conservatives often complain about anemic private sector job growth in B.C. compared to the public sector. Gibson pointed out that the province is now leading the country in private sector job growth. B.C. added 8,900 private sector jobs out of 13,000 total last month.
