Greater Victoria鈥檚 unemployment rate was virtually flat in May from April, but the region has come a long way in the past 12 months.
May鈥檚 unemployment rate was 6.3 per cent. A year ago it was 10.3 per cent.
Last month, there were 210,100 people working in Greater Victoria. That鈥檚 up by 21,700 from May 2020, Vincent Ferraro, analyst with Statistics sa国际传媒, said Friday.
April鈥檚 unemployment rate was 6.2 per cent in the capital region.
Although the picture looks brighter, the region is still in the recovery stage as health and safety restrictions remain in place and the economy struggles to regain momentum.
Last year, the unemployment rate in the capital region reached a peak of 11.6 per cent in July.
Before the pandemic, Greater Victoria had boasted some of the lowest unemployment rates in the country. In February of last year, unemployment was at 3.5 per cent and 213,000 people were working.
Jobs in the accommodation and food services sector saw year-over-year increases in Greater Victoria, to 17,400 last month, up from 7,400 in May 2020, Ferraro said.
Numbers in that sector have been gradually increasing. In April of this year, there were 15,600 people employed in the hard-hit accommodation and food services sector in the capital region.
Wholesale and retail trade saw job numbers rise to 29,000 last month from 23,000 in May 2020.
Educational services also saw gains to 21,500 in May from 15,500 a year ago.
Construction jobs declined to 14,600 last month from 17,900 in May 2020.
Hopes are pinned on sa国际传媒鈥檚 restart program leading to more opportunities as it rolls out in coming weeks and restrictions are expected to ease.
sa国际传媒鈥檚 overall unemployment rate was unchanged at seven per cent, according to Statistics sa国际传媒鈥檚 monthly labour force survey.
Province-wide, 23,200 part time jobs were lost while 21,300 full-time jobs were added.
Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation, said the numbers reflect difficult times due to the pandemic. Circuit-breaker restrictions were lifted in late May when sa国际传媒 launched its restart program, leading to 鈥渁 lot of hope and optimism across the province,鈥� he said. 鈥淢any sa国际传媒 businesses including restaurants, pubs, many attractions are now welcoming people back.鈥�
Kahlon said sa国际传媒 is well-positioned for strong economic recovery.
Nationally, the country lost 68,000 jobs in May as lockdowns continued.
The losses marked the second consecutive month of declines after 207,000 jobs were lost in April.
The unemployment rate was 8.2 per cent in May, little changed from the 8.1 per cent in April because the number of unemployed people in sa国际传媒 overall stayed relatively steady.
What changed is that more people dropped out of the labour force in May, including workers who simply got discouraged and gave up looking for work.
The statistics office says there were 49,700 discouraged job-searchers last month, or 9.3 per cent, those who wanted work but did not look for work, more than twice the average of 22,000 seen in 2019.
Friday鈥檚 data release also notes that 28,000 more core-aged women, those between age 25 and 54, didn鈥檛 look for work in May as third-wave restrictions continued in Ontario and other regions of the country.
Statistics sa国际传媒 says the unemployment rate would have been 10.7 per cent in May had it included in calculations those people who wanted to work but didn鈥檛 search for a job.
May鈥檚 job losses put the country about 571,100 jobs, or three per cent, below pre-pandemic levels seen in February 2020.
But the actual gap may be larger once adjusting for population growth during the pandemic, which would put the labour market about 763,000 jobs, or 3.9 per cent below the February 2020 levels.
Statistics sa国际传媒 says employment in goods-producing sectors dropped for the first time since April 2020, including in manufacturing that saw a decline of 36,000 jobs in May.
Despite the losses, economists expect things will improve over the coming months as provinces are set to loosen restrictions and reopen economic activity as after the second wave of the pandemic, says TD senior economist Sri Thanabalasingam.
鈥淓xcept this time the acceleration in the vaccine rollout may provide employers with added confidence, thereby boosting hiring intentions,鈥� he writes in a note.
But he adds that fewer people in the job market could mean the country faces labour shortages just as demand for workers is set to recover.
