economy
01. economy With seeming intention, unemployment rates across Canada have dived back down to their pre-pandemic levels—or lower—as labour markets have tightened.
WILL THE (NEAR-)RECORD-LOW RATES LAST?
Since the early part of the Covid pandemic, we’ve dealt with the tradeoffs of health and safety restrictions and the limits they imposed on economic activity. And while each individual province took its own path on Covid restrictions, they all, predictably, saw a spike in the unemployment rate in 2020. Looking back, the Canadian labour market was relatively healthy, with a 5.7% unemployment rate prior to the pandemic. Unemployment rates ranged from a high of 12.5% in Newfoundland and Labrador to a low of 4.6% in Quebec, with our own rate here in British Columbia at 5.2%. After the initial spike in unemployment in 2020, there’s been a steady decline over the past two years to the point where we’re now below our pre-pandemic unemployment rate.
And this isn't just nationally—it's also here in BC and in seven of the nine other provinces (only Manitoba and Ontario still sit above). More recently, the past year has shown a steady decline in unemployment in every single province. The Canadian unemployment rate, which reached an all-time low in June at 4.9%, now sits at 5.4%. In BC we’re enjoying the lowest unemployment rate in the nation at 4.8%, while only one province, Newfoundland and Labrador, is above 8% (at 10.5%). With virtually all remaining Covid restrictions having been lifted, the labour market is no longer being suppressed. Employment levels are once again responding to more traditional market forces, and as we move through the coming months, today’s near-record low unemployment rate will serve as a solid foundation for our housing market.
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