economy
TWO WAYS TO LOOK AT WORK The unemployment rate is just one piece of the puzzle when understanding the labour market. Its relationship with the employment rate tells us a little more.
The unemployment rate, while an exceedingly useful measure on its own, does not tell us all the ways the labour market is, or isn’t, working for the population. For example, if the working-age population stays constant, and people drop out of the labour force then the unemployment rate falls even though the same number of people are working. So other metrics like labour force participation (which we’ll explore next) and the employment rate give us additional information into how many people are actually working relative to the overall population of those aged 15+.
In Metro Vancouver, there is a clear pattern between the unemployment rate and the employment rate, a very strong negative correlation, which means when one is high, the other is low. This may seem obvious at first glance, but tells us something important, which is that historically when the unemployment rate in Metro Vancouver rises or falls, the primary cause isn’t people entering or leaving the workforce but rather an increase or decrease in the number of people working.
JOINED AT THE HIP: EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT
67%
66%
FEBRUARY
65%
64%
63%
62%
61%
60%
59%
58%
4%
5%
6%
7%
8%
9%
10%
3%
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE
DATA: EMPLOYMENT RATE & UNEMPLOYMENT RATE, MONTHLY, SEASONALLY ADJUSTED, METRO VANCOUVER
SOURCE: LABOUR FORCE SURVEY & TABLE 14-10-0383-01, STATISTICS CANADA
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