Unemployment numbers have leaped locally, as three million people across the country have lost their jobs in two months due to COVID-19.
Greater Victoria鈥檚 unemployment rate is 7.2 per cent, sa国际传媒鈥檚 is at 11.5 per cent and sa国际传媒鈥檚 is at 13 per cent as of April, Statistics sa国际传媒 said in its monthly labour force survey.
The capital region鈥檚 unemployment rate had been 3.2 per cent in February, when it was among the lowest in the country, before rising to 4.6 per cent last month.
The job losses are 鈥渦nprecedented鈥� and 鈥渟taggering,鈥� sa国际传媒鈥檚 Finance Minister Carole James said today. Before the pandemic, the province had an unemployment rate of five per cent, the lowest in sa国际传媒.
In the past month alone, the province lost 264,000 jobs. Combine that with the numbers for March, when the virus first affected the economy, and the total comes to 396,500.
鈥淭he numbers today in fact aren鈥檛 the full picture,鈥� James said. 鈥淏ecause many of those who lost employment are counted as not in the labour force, rather than unemployed. Because they wanted work, but they didn鈥檛 look for work because of the lack of opportunities right now because of COVID-19.鈥�
Many businesses throughout the capital region are closed and boarded up, some by choice and others because of provincial health and safety regulations.
Businesses relying on tourism 鈥� one of the foundations of Greater Victoria鈥檚 economy 鈥� have been hard hit now that international travel, including cruise ships, has evaporated.
The number of people employed in the capital region in April slid by 10,200 from March to 187,700, Statistics sa国际传媒 said.
For the region covering Vancouver Island and the mainland coast, the unemployment rate (not seasonally adjusted) climbed to 8.4 cent from 3.7 per cent the same time a year ago.
James said all sectors have been affected by the virus, but the worst hit are accommodation and food operations, and wholesale and retail trade.
鈥淚n total, 47 per cent of the job losses we saw in March and April combined were in these sectors.鈥�
Since the province鈥檚 emergency benefit for unemployed workers was introduced a week ago, more than 400,000 applications have been approved for the one-time $1,000 payment, James said.
sa国际传媒 announced this week that it is embarking on a staged re-opening plan. It has set aside $1.5 billion to help the provincial economy recover.
Asked if sa国际传媒 is in the midst of the worst of it, James said: 鈥淚 certainly don鈥檛 have a crystal ball, I鈥檓 afraid.
鈥淏ut I think now that we have started our gradual restart on the economy, we will be watching very carefully the months of May and June.鈥�
Once it鈥檚 clear what businesses open and who returns to work, she said, 鈥渨e will have a better sense of what we are looking at.鈥�
鈥淚 think we鈥檝e got a hard road ahead. I don鈥檛 want to sugar-coat this.鈥�
James said how the $1.5 billion is spent will depend on the 鈥渨ork that needs to happen sector-by-sector and in a broad way across British Columbia.鈥�
Talks will be taking place with tourism officials, she said.
On a national level, more than one in five households say they are having difficulty meeting financial obligations, Statistics sa国际传媒 said.
Among those who have lost jobs, young people have been disproportionately affected.
From February to April, employment among youth declined by 873,000, or 34.2 per cent, the federal agency said.
Unemployment surged to 31.7 per cent (not seasonally adjusted) for students ages 15 to 24 in April. This is 鈥渟ignalling that many could face difficulties in continuing to pay for their studies.鈥�
Brian DePratto, senior economist for TD Economics, said the country hasn鈥檛 seen those kinds of numbers since the Great Depression. 鈥淎nd even then, the speed at which the current episode unfolded seems to have no identifiable precedent.鈥�
DePratto said even more telling than the number of lost jobs is the impact on hours worked.
A total of 2.5 million Canadians worked less than half their usual hours last month as a result of COVID-19, DePratto said.
鈥淥ne in four is how many either lost their job, or most/all of their hours. The scale of the needed pandemic response has been such that odds are that most of us know at least one, if not several people, who鈥檝e had their lives disrupted as a result.鈥�
