P.G. Unemployment Rate Drops
Friday, April 10, 2015 @ 8:05 AM
Prince George, B.C. – The year over year unemployment rate in Prince George for the month of March is down.
According to Statistics Canada, the unemployment last month was 4.5%, down from March of last year when it sat at 5.6%.
Labour analyst Vincent Ferrao says there were also fewer people working.
“There were 46,300 people working in March, compared to 50,900 a year ago.”
He says the biggest declines came in retail and wholesale trade, and in accommodation and food services.
Compared to the provincial and national jobless numbers, Prince George fared quite well.
Provincially the unemployment rate was 5.8% last month, while nationally it was 6.8%.
Comments
These unemployment numbers are almost meaningless. They to easily dismiss the potential workers not considered part of the workforce skewing the statistics to be nothing more than meaningless to anyone other than a insurance actuary determining the insurance rates for rate payers.
I like the total employed statistic. We dropped nearly 9% (4600 jobs) in total employed year over year, to me is a more accurate statement on our economy, rather than to say our unemployment dropped from 5.6% to 4.5%.
As far as I can remember the last 30 or so years PG has fluctuated within a narrow band of total jobs available… with the recent participation rate as reflected in unemployment numbers all over the map from the mid teens to the lows of today.
What would be real news I think would be if PG ever broke out of the narrow band of total jobs and broke the 40,000 on the down side or 60,000 on the up side… then we could say we have a significant trend developing.
Furthermore I think a low unemployment rate in PG market does not mean more people are working (as exampled by the above stats with the rate down, but people working also down by 9%).
I think the low unemployment rate really means we have low turn over for jobs in PG at this time. That is the truth behind the statistic. When we had 14% unemployment in PG with the same amount of jobs available as today we simply had higher turn over rates and therefor more people measured as recently part of the work force pool (statistically).
Its kind of the inverse of what one would think a lower unemployment rate means for jobs prospects if one looks at it that way… lol.
So if the jobs plan is based on the unemployment rate as its standard for success… then we are being hoodwinked by our politicians.
Must be more people enjoying welfare payments.
Eagleone: Have you given any thought to my question awhile ago about perhaps starting your own blog?
Or as you mentioned in Ben’s advice to you, do you know the meaning of succinct?
Another little twist to the numbers.. If a persons EI runs out they are considered employed.
With all the people being out of work from Ft. Mac I would consider BC’s unemployment rate to be at the top of the scale , unless you consider EI a job . BC is on a very slippery slope , give it a few months and see for yourself .
Give More, if you want comments and opinions to be succinct, go use Twitter. That’s what it’s for. I personally don’t mind Eagleone’s diatribes, whether I agree with them or not.
Statistics Canada does not use Employment Insurance data, they use their own labour market survey.
Stats Can defines a person as unemployed if he/she wants a job but can’t find one. It doesn’t matter whether the unemployed person is receiving EI benefits.
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