City’s jobless rate lowest in Canada

A 4 per cent jobless rate is considered to be full employment; Kelowna’s is currently at 3.6 per cent

All of a sudden, Kelowna has a labour shortage and the lowest jobless rate in the country.

“I know, it’s hard to believe,” said Central Okanagan Economic Development Commission director Corie Griffiths.

“In January, the unemployment rate was 7.8 per cent and was one of the highest in the country. And now there’s been a big swing and it’s at 3.6 per cent, the lowest in Canada.”

A jobless rate of four per cent is considered by economists to mark full employment.

That means anyone who wants to work and doesn’t have any barriers can find a job.

Once the rate dips below four per cent, there’s a labour shortage.

“What it means is employers have to get creative,” said Griffiths.

“Quite often to fill a position, companies are convincing people that already have a job to come and work for them for more challenge, better conditions and higher wages.”

Businesses are also finding to keep the workers they have or attract more, they need a full-or part-time human resources manager.

“It’s not just about advertising a job, finding the right candidate and then hiring them,” said Griffiths.

“Quite often, the human resources professional will have to offer more, like finding the new hire the right home for them to rent or what volleyball league they can join. It’s about complete company and community integration.”

As the massive baby boomer generation retires and birth rates remain low, labour shortages are becoming more common across North America. Kelowna is at the forefront. “There are already labour shortages in health care, trades, high technology and construction,” said Griffiths.

“But employers are also finding there’s a shortage of soft skills, such as customer service.”

Thus said, Kelowna is well positioned in the race for human capital.

“We have a quality of life and entrepreneurial spirit here that attracts talented and skilled people, so people are happy to come here to live and work,” said Griffiths. But still, there will likely be shortages. That means employers may have to pay higher wages, offer more flexibility and convince immigrants to come here and work,

Employers will also have to make it attractive for students to work more and older workers to put off retirement or retirees to work part-time.

While City of Kelowna director of business and entrepreneurial development Robert Fine is excited to see the unemployment rate at 3.6 per cent, he’s careful in how he uses the data.

“The sample to come up with Kelowna’s jobless rate is so small,” he said. “So what’s important is the trending and there’s been a steady downward trend since the beginning of the year. It speaks to what’s happening here. We have population growth. There’s demand for housing. And there’s growth in the tech and tourism sectors.”

Ironically, while flooding was to have scared off tourists for the last half of May and all of June, that hasn’t shown up in tourism businesses laying off workers.

In fact, there could be a hiring spike as tourism booms with pent-up demand and workers are hired to do flood cleanup and rebuilding.

Of the 34 cities Statistics Canada provides an unemployment rate for, Kelowna was the lowest in June at 3.6 per cent.

The next lowest were Guelph, Ont., with 3.8 and Victoria at 4.1.

The cities with the highest percentage of jobless are Calgary at 8.9 Peterborough, Ont. at 8.5.

The national unemployment rate in June was 6.5 per cent, down slightly from 6.6 in May.

Cities with a rate identical or close to the national marker include Montreal at 6.5 and Toronto at 6.7.

The jobless rate in B.C. last month was 5.1 per cent, a fairly significant drop from 5.6 per cent in May.

In June, Vancouver had an unemployment rate the same as the province’s at 5.1 per cent.

There are already labour shortages in health care, trades, high technology and construction. But employers are also finding there’s a shortage of soft skills, such as customer service. Central Okanagan Economic Development Commission director Corie Griffiths