TOURISM BOON BOOSTS JOBS

Greater Victoria’s unemployment rate fell to 5.7 per cent last month as the region’s tourism sector geared up for a record season.

In Greater Victoria, 5,000 more people were working in May compared with the same month a year ago, a Statistics Canada official said Friday. The number of people employed last month was 180,200.

The capital region’s unemployment rate in April was 6.2 per cent, the same as in May 2015.

Across Canada, Statistics Canada credits more publicsector jobs for the dip in the national unemployment rate to 6.9 per cent from 7.1 in April.

Greater Victoria’s public administration workforce was part of that — rising by 16 per cent to 17,600 jobs in May, from 15,200 in May 2015.

While B.C.’s unemployment rate jumped to 6.1 per cent from 5.8 per cent in May, the province still has one of the lowest rates in the country, edged only by Saskatchewan, which had a rate of six per cent.

More people were working last month in Vancouver and Victoria as both cities posted 5.7 per cent jobless rates, while unemployment remained above the national average in Kelowna, at 8.2 per cent, the federal agency said in its monthly report.

As for the decline in Greater Victoria’s unemployment rate, “some of it is seasonal because we are [approaching] summer and there’s a lot of extra employment,” particularly in the tourism industry, said Christine Willow, chief operating officer for GT Hiring Solutions, which holds Work B.C. contracts for the provincial government.

A five per cent rate represents what is essentially full employment, making it difficult for employers to find staff, she said.

Some capital region employers are already having a difficult time filling certain jobs, Willow said. These include restaurant, hotel and cook positions, midlevel management and some highly skilled technical jobs, such as engineering, she said.

Willow recommends employers look at older workers, aboriginal youth and people with disabilities to fill vacancies.

Statistics Canada said that retail and wholesale trade job numbers in Greater Victoria climbed by 27 per cent to 28,300 in May from 22,200 the previous year.

In the professional, scientific and technical sectors, employment increased 26 per cent to 20,600 from 16,300.

Jobs in business, building and other services, which can include call centres and maintenance, moved up by 51 per cent to 8,200 from 5,400.

There were declines in the transportation and warehouse sector, which dropped to 5,700 positions from 7,900 in 12 months.

Also, jobs fell to 7,000 from 9,800 in the information, cultural and recreation category.

Construction jobs slid to 10,000 from 14,700.

The Work B.C. website showed 607 job postings in Greater Victoria on Friday.

Positions include childcare workers at $11 per hour, a retail store manager at $27 per hour and a mental health counsellor at $61,984 per year.