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Capital boasts lowest jobless rate


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#1 Mike K.

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Posted 05 August 2006 - 12:51 PM

Capital boasts lowest jobless rate
BY MEAGAN FITZPATRICK CanWest News Service

OTTAWA — Canada’s unemployment rate edged up 0.3 percentage points to 6.4 per cent in July, fuelling speculation Canada is following the United States into an economic slowdown. On a bright note, however, Victoria came in with the lowest unemployment rate of any city in the country at 3.5 per cent. That was slightly better than booming Alberta cities Calgary and Edmonton, which notched rates of 3.7 and 3.8 per cent, respectively. Vancouver’s unemployment rate was 4.1 per cent.
Nationally, employment fell for the second month in a row, dropping by 5,500 jobs in July, Statistics Canada reported. Full-time jobs were up 21,600, short of the 23,500 analysts were expecting.
Coming on the heels of a surprisingly weak gross domestic product report Monday that showed flat growth in May, evidence is mounting growth in the Canadian economy is slowing.
“When you put the whole picture together, the Canadian economy looks to be slowing down,” said Avery Shenfeld, senior economist at CIBC World Markets. “The GDP and employment numbers both suggest that, and it’s consistent with what we’re seeing in the United States.”
But analysts were quick to point out that overall unemployment levels are still near 30-year lows. The dip in employment should be taken in context, said Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc.
“Clearly the headline numbers are disappointing,” he said. But “the drop in June and July followed a tremendous increase in May. In hindsight that May reading really was a fluke. (July’s reading) basically took us right back to where we were in April.”
There was a jump in the number of people entering the labour force in search of work in July, and the gains in full-time employment were offset by similar declines in part-time work, said StatsCan.
Analysts said Friday’s figures confirmed the likelihood that the Bank of Canada will hold steady on interest rates in September at its next setting.
“The widespread view was that the Bank of Canada was not going to raise rates in September and probably not in October either. This will simply cement that view,” said Porter.
The Canadian dollar weakened following the Statistics Canada report, but pared those losses quickly when jobs data south of the border also came in weaker than expected, fuelling thoughts the U.S. Federal Reserve will also refrain from future rate hikes.
The currency finished at 88.63 cents US, well off its daily lows but still down from Thursday’s North American close of 88.84 cents.
The U.S. saw a gain of 113,000 jobs in July, while the unemployment rate there rose to 4.8 per cent from 4.6 per cent, the first increase since February. Economists had expected a gain of 144,000 jobs.
Employment was little changed in almost all provinces for the second month in a row. Alberta’s employment growth remained three times higher than the national average, Saskatchewan experienced strong growth again and Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia stayed virtually the same. But Ontario is a source of concern, said Porter. Its unemployment rate climbed 0.6 percentage points in July to 6.5 per cent.
“Ontario is clearly suffering, especially compared to the West,” said Porter. “It’s partly a function of just how tremendously well the four Western provinces are doing, they are effectively at full employment because of the resources boom. The downside to the story is the fact that the manufacturing sector is struggling mightily and that’s largely concentrated in Ontario.”
Jobs in that sector continued to slide in July, maintaining a downward trend that began at the end of 2002.
The construction industry on the other hand saw particularly good growth, especially in British Columbia, and there were also more people working in public administration in July.

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#2 TheVisionary

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Posted 11 November 2006 - 01:59 AM

It's nice to have a hot economy, but it always rise and fall in boom bust cycles. The tricky part is in predicting exactly when the line graph will go straight downwards.

The Times Colonist article said Victoria is at 3.0% unemployment, not 3.5%.

Employers are desperate for non-existent workers, they'll almost hire anyone who can count to 20 using all their fingers and toes.

My work team leader had a hissy fit and quit on the desperate management. The next thing I know, my work hours jumped upwards. I think I should milk this situation as far as I can, as long as I can. I can almost do whatever I see fit as long as I don't go too extreme. They give me a wide berth and a lot of slack. It's good to have all the loaded dices in my hands!

I feel like bursting out in an evil laughter! muhahaha! muhahaha! Unlimited power! Kiss my ring!

#3 Mike K.

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Posted 26 January 2007 - 01:36 PM

Sizzling job scene tops in Canada
In past six years, unemployment fell more in Victoria than any other city

BY DARRON KLOSTER
Times Colonist business editor

We’re no longer the land of the newly wed and nearly dead in the eyes of our fellow Canadians. Instead, we’re a city of working stiffs.

According to numbers released yesterday by Statistics Canada, Victoria led the country with the sharpest reduction in unemployment over the past seven years — dropping from 6.7 per cent in 2000 to 3.7 per cent in 2006. Only Abbotsford and non-metropolitan British Columbia were close to Victoria’s jobless slash. In contrast, parts of industrial Ontario and Quebec experienced hikes in the unemployment rate of up to five per cent over the same period.

“It’s the shape of British Columbia’s economy and the capital is reflective of that,” says Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce chief executive Bruce Carter. “The size of our workforce has grown. There are good jobs here in many sectors and we fully expect that to continue.

“We’re also the 23rd most expensive place to live on the planet right now ... if you’re unemployed, why would you do it here?”

Quebec City ranked fourth and Vancouver tied with Halifax for fifth place in the study that found Canada’s 28 metropolitan areas accounted for nearly threequarters of the growth in employment in the country from 2000 through 2006.

B.C.’s labour market improvements came on the heels of gains in resourcebased industries, construction and transportation, and increased exports to the Far East, notably China. Tourism also continues to drive employment growth despite downturns elsewhere in the country.

Victoria’s stunning improvement from 22nd place among 38 areas surveyed in 2000 to the third lowest unemployment rate in Canada last December may also be partly explained by a fluid workforce, says University of Victoria economics professor Herbert Schuetze.

He said Victoria’s proximity to other hotbeds of employment — Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and the energy fields of northern B.C. and Alberta — has allowed Victorians to quickly go to where the work is if they can’t find it here.

Victoria also emerged as a perennial best performer for having the lowest unemployment rates in five of the seven years, along with Calgary, non-metropolitan Alberta and non-metropolitan Manitoba.

The poorest performers were non-metropolitan areas of Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, as well as Windsor, Ont., which has been especially hard hit by setbacks in manufacturing and the auto industry.

Across Canada, the study also found that the average duration of unemployment fell by about three weeks between 2000 and 2006, from 19.8 weeks to 16.7 weeks. Declines occurred in 33 of the 38 areas examined. The exceptions with a higher average duration of unemployment were Prince Edward Island, Saguenay, Oshawa, non-metropolitan Alberta and, surprisingly, Victoria. StatsCan described that as “intriguing.

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#4 G-Man

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Posted 26 January 2007 - 01:47 PM

“We’re also the 23rd most expensive place to live on the planet right now ... if you’re unemployed, why would you do it here?”


Talk about taking that stat out of context! While perhaps SFDs are more expensive here it is a long jump to say that we are the 23 most
expensive city in the world.

That study did not look at the cost of food, rentals, fuel, energy nor did it compare ALL of these items to a median income.

I am sure that if a full analysis of this were done it would put us well down the list.

My own personal rating system uses the cost of an Imperial Pint of beer.

In comparison to most of the EU we are doing pretty well. Also recent research trips to NY and San Fran further found out that we are cheaper than large american centres for the cost of and Imp. Pint. Some places in NY are charging 7 dollars for 12 ozs or just over half of a pint.

Past research trips to Mexico and South America have also shown that there is room for improvement. In much of Tropical SA costs of an pint were between 1 and 2 CDN while farther south prices were higher but still reasonable at 2 to 4 CDN.

This study will never be complete :)

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It has a whole new look!

 


#5 gumgum

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Posted 08 December 2007 - 10:22 AM

It's a 'perfect storm' for a labour crisis
Victoria has Canada's lowest jobless rate at 2.8%

Andrew A. Duffy, Times Colonist
Published: Saturday, December 08, 2007

News that Greater Victoria has the lowest unemployment rate in the country -- with a jobless rate below even Calgary's -- has some in the business community warning of a labour-force crisis.

The region's unemployment rate dropped to 2.8 per cent last month, according to Statistics Canada figures released yesterday, a full percentage point behind last November's figure. Calgary weighed in at 3.0.

Ken Stratford, head of the Greater Victoria Economic Development Commission, said the low unemployment rate combined with a declining birth rate, increasing retirements and an economy that continues to expand, add up to a looming labour headache, and the only cure is to take action now.

"It's a perfect storm," said Stratford, who expects the 2.8 rate to drop further next year.

Stratford said companies must start branding themselves as great employers, rather than just touting their products.

"With these kinds of numbers, companies are going to have to learn how to recruit better, how to hold onto staff, and they have to learn to become magnet companies so people are drawn to them." Vincent Ferrao of Statistics Canada said 189,000 people were working in Greater Victoria last month, up from 186,000 in October and 178,000 in November 2006.

"That's a strong increase," he said.

The bulk of the new jobs were in the service industry, though areas such as high-tech saw small increases.

B.C.'s overall unemployment rate in November dropped to 4.2 per cent from 4.4 per cent a month earlier, according to the labour force survey.

Since January, the main drivers of B.C. job growth have been trade, construction, information, culture and recreation, and transportation and warehousing.

Last month, the construction sector alone gained 12,000 jobs.

Nationally, the job gain was 43,000 last month. B.C. accounted for more than half of those jobs -- 26,000 -- and the province's employment is up 3.6 per cent for the year, compared to the national figure of 2.3 per cent.

In contrast, Ontario saw employment shrink by 5,000 jobs in November, while the province experienced 1.6 per cent employment growth to date this year.

Scott Petersen, vice-president and chief operating officer of information technology consulting firm OA Solutions, which has offices in Victoria, Vancouver and Edmonton, said the tight labour market is making it hard to find and keep qualified employees.

Peterson said the company has tried to take on interesting projects that will engage its staff, sometimes taking the company out of its own comfort zone.

The risk is often worth it, said Peterson, especially when it comes to recruiting. The company plans to hire another dozen or so employees in the next year.

Economist Roslyn Kunin said B.C. is facing extreme worker shortages at all skill levels. Kunin called for increased training in trades, construction and related occupations, and better ways to recognize immigrants' credentials.

B.C. Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair warned only a portion of the jobs created pay well enough to support a family. He said B.C. needs to avoid what he described as "the race to the bottom" by creating a generation of workers with nominal skills and mediocre wage prospects. "Creating jobs is one thing -- creating good jobs is another." Stratford said there is a silver lining for young people entering the workforce.

"It's a seller's market, and we've never known anything quite like it," he said, noting the closest we've come was after the First World War, when there was a dearth of able young men.

"For young people coming into the workforce, there's an incredible opportunity that's unprecedented. They can pick their career." --With files from CanWest News Service


© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2007

...

#6 spanky123

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Posted 09 December 2007 - 11:48 AM

Of course unemployment is going to be low when most of the working aged people cannot afford to live in the city and many have moved elsewhere.

Victoria's development plan seems to be to build luxury condos for the world's elite to enjoy while the actual full time residents of the city get to work service sector jobs supporting this market.

#7 LJ

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Posted 09 December 2007 - 01:11 PM

Victoria's development plan seems to be to build luxury condos for the world's elite to enjoy while the actual full time residents of the city get to work service sector jobs supporting this market.


Of course that's not true in Vancouver, Toronto, New York, San Francisco etc. etc. etc.:D

#8 UrbanRail

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Posted 09 December 2007 - 02:02 PM

Of course unemployment is going to be low when most of the working aged people cannot afford to live in the city and many have moved elsewhere.

Victoria's development plan seems to be to build luxury condos for the world's elite to enjoy while the actual full time residents of the city get to work service sector jobs supporting this market.


And I doubt that anyone of these people in the service sector are making $20 and hour as Campbell likes to boast. He said that after questions regarding increasing the minimum wage to $10/hr. He didnt think that the increase was needed.

#9 amor de cosmos

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Posted 09 December 2007 - 02:12 PM

Canada created 43000 jobs in November & wages increased 4.2%. I don't know how that compares with Victoria though.

#10 Mike K.

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Posted 09 December 2007 - 03:56 PM

An increase in the minimum wage hurts everyone except the minimum wage earners. It leads to inflation and before we know it the cost of living spikes and minimum wage earners are right back where they started, whereas those earning set wages are faced with higher expenses but the same income.

#11 spanky123

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Posted 10 December 2007 - 10:33 AM

Just noted in another forum a link to the Capital region census states for 2006. As I suggested earlier, the region has seen a big drop in the percentage of the working age population. It has got even worse since the census was taken.

The simple reason why the unemployment rate in Victoria is so low then is because there are fewer workers while the demand for service sector jobs increases. The average wage however is not increasing (last year it was actually lower then inflation) as high valued jobs are replaced.

 



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