economy
EMPLOYMENT CHANGES: A FULL-TIME RISE AND PART-TIME DIVE The good news? Metro Vancouver continues to add full-time jobs. The bad news? Part-time positions are falling and it's creating labour market headwinds.
While overall job growth has slowed, some drag is being created within the part-time segment of the economy. In Metro Vancouver, the past year has seen part-time positions drop by 5,900, after 12,100 having been added in the previous year and, on average, 11,900 being added each year over the past- half decade. Had the decline in part-time work been at least offset by a rise in full-time work above what we had seen in previous years, it would be easy to shrug off. However, in adding only 25,000 full-time positions in the past 12 months, full-time gains were 13% below those of one year ago and 16% below the pace of full-time growth experienced between 2013 and 2018.
The result of these changes is that total employment growth over the past 12 months was down 53% on the previous 12 months and 54% versus the average additions in Metro Vancouver in the preceding five years. Like most dimensions of our economy, employment cycles are the norm rather than the exception, so the current slow patch doesn’t raise red flags for the time being—especially since the region’s job base is expected to benefit over the coming years from the current office construction boom. However, a lower-for-longer trajectory, should it materialize on the jobs front, will eventually impact earnings, so it warrants continued monitoring.
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