economy
ENCOURAGING TRENDS FOR DISCOURAGED WORKERS
Hidden from the unemployment rate statistics is the plight of individuals who have given up in their search for work because they have been unsuccessful for a prolonged period of time. Such discouraged workers, as they are termed, are excluded from data on unemployment, which reflects only those people who are actively looking for work; however, they are no less important when contemplating overall labour market conditions. Indeed, the discouraged worker rate rises and falls with economic cycles, thereby representing another barometer of economic prosperity.
In British Columbia, the Q1 2019 discouraged worker rate of 0.08% sits near its all-time low of 0.07% from early 2008 and is less than half the discouraged worker rates observed in Alberta (0.23%), Ontario (0.19%), and Canada as a whole (0.20%). While the percentages are small—even during Alberta’s economic low point in 2017, that province’s discouraged worker rate rose to only 0.50%—they are instructive for those looking to gauge economic health. Viewed through this lens, British Columbia gets a clean bill.
DISCOURAGED WORKER RATE HITTING NEW LOWS
›
0.60%
0.50%
0.40%
0.30%
0.23% 0.19% 0.20%
0.20%
0.10%
0.08%
0.00%
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
CANADA
ONTARIO
ALBERTA
BRITISH COLUMBIA
SOURCE: LABOUR FORCE SURVEY, STATISTICS CANADA
rennie.com
17
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online