economy
TAKING STOCK OF THE EMPLOYMENT SHOCK The unique profile of job losses over the past year has had the perverse consequence of shielding the housing market from the worst effects of the pandemic.
Within the first couple of months of the pandemic, young, part-time service sector workers were being disproportionately impacted by our Great Suppression. As these were not your average home owners or buyers, the for-sale segment of our housing market had (and has) been spared the worst effects of the downturn. So where do things stand today? On a sectoral basis, jobs in hospitality and trade were down 6.9% in February 2021 versus February 2020, while employment in all other sectors was actually up by 1.1%. When looking at age groups for those employed, under-25
employment was down 2.5% one year after the arrival of Covid-19, while the number of employed people aged 25 and over was down only 0.3%. Interestingly, full-time (F-T) employment has fallen by 1.6% in the past year, compared to a 3.2% increase in part-time (P-T) workers. This represents a change from the early days of the pandemic when P-T workers were most negatively-impacted—good news for those who truly want to be working P-T, but suggestive of lingering challenges facing employers and their F-T employees one year into Covid-19.
BC’S JOB-LOSS ARCHETYPE: YOUNG PEOPLE IN SHOPS, CAFES, AND HOTELS
4%
3.2%
2%
1.1%
0%
-0.3%
-1.6%
-2%
-2.5%
-4%
-6%
-6.9%
-8%
Hotel, Resto/Cafe, Retail, Wholesale
All Other Sectors
Under 25
25+
Part-time
Full-time
SECTOR
PART TIME FULL TIME
AGE
DATA: FEB 2020 - FEB 2021 EMPLOYMENT CHANGES, SEASONALLY-ADJUSTED
SOURCE: LABOUR FORCE SURVEY, STATISTICS CANADA
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