economy
DISCOURAGED WORKER RATE: WE DO PORTEND A POSITIVE TREND The unemployment rate is good at measuring how well those looking for work find it. But what about those who don’t? On this, the data is reassuring.
As with part-time work, the majority of those not in the labour force, such as retirees, have chosen not to be. Indeed, in British Columbia in 2019, 97% of those who were of working age but were not in the provincial workforce had chosen not to work for a multitude of reasons. For the other 3% who were not in the labour force, the reasons were varied, from being in school, suffering from an illness, or caring for family members. For most people in these categories, the reason for not being in the workforce can be seen as transitory, with a return to work expected at some point in the future. Having said that, there is another group— discouraged workers, or those who have given
up looking for work because they have been unsuccessful for a prolonged period of time— for which being out of the labour force is not necessarily temporary. These individuals are not captured in the unemployment rate, so it is important to consider them as part of a more holistic temperature-taking of the labour market. The good news is that in BC, the discouraged worker rate (discouraged individuals as a share of those not in the workforce), remains at an all-time low of 0.05%. This is considerably lower than Canada’s 0.18%, and down from its five-year peak of 0.19% in early 2016. With labour market conditions remaining tight, the number of discouraged workers is likely to remain minimal.
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