Nearly 400,000 B.C. jobs lost since February
Accommodation and food industries hardest hit sectors with 57-per-cent drop in employment
B.C. has lost 396,500 jobs since February, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the province resulting in an economic shutdown, according to Statistics Canada.
The unemployment rate in B.C. spiked to 11.5 per cent in April, while the nation’s unemployment rate soared to 13 per cent.
B.C. Finance Minister Carole James said “a staggering number of people” are feeling the impact of the pandemic, which has caused pain and suffering that is “unprecedented in our lifetime.”
She couldn’t say whether these numbers will be the worst yet, but added that now that the government is starting a gradual recovery of the economy she will be closely watching the months of May and June.
“We’ve got a hard road ahead, I don’t want to sugar-coat it,” she said during a news conference Friday to address the job losses.
James said she is confident, however, there will be some recovery as business reopens.
International travel will likely continue to impact tourism but the government will be taking recommendations from the industry on how to manage this impact, she said.
James noted that more than 400,000 British Columbians have been approved to receive the $1,000 B.C. Emergency Benefit for Workers in the first week of applications.
StatsCan analyst Andrew Field said B.C.’s loss of 396,500 jobs represents a 16 per cent drop in employment over two months, while the province’s unemployment rate is up from just five per cent in February.
B.C.’s accommodation and food services industry felt the brunt of the shutdown, with a 57 per cent drop in employment over two months, followed by the wholesale and retail trade sector with a 19 per cent decline, said Field.
“There wasn’t a single industry in B.C. though that didn’t see a decline,” he said, noting that the least impacted was the professional, scientific and technical sector, as many people could work from home in these industries.
B.C.’s youth, aged 15 to 24, were most affected by the shutdown, with a 35 per cent drop in jobs in this age category since February.
The bulk of B.C.’s losses were in the Metro Vancouver region, which was the second hardest hit large metropolitan centre in the country, with 256,000 jobs lost over two months. The region’s unemployment rate was 10.8 per cent in April, an increase of 6.2 percentage points from February, according to Statistics Canada.