Young lead as B.C loses 20,300 jobs Paul Luke The Province

Sunday, September 09, 2001 B.C.'s labour market took a bloodbath last month as the province lost 20,300 jobs.

The hemorrhage in jobs pushed the province's unemployment rate sharply higher to 7.9 per cent from 7.2 per cent in July, Statistics Canada said in its Labour Force Survey.

"The deterioration in employment was particularly notable for youth, whose unemployment rate jumped by two percentage points over the month to reach 14.5 per cent," the Vancouver office of Human Resources Development Canada said in an analysis.

"In contrast, the adult unemployment increased by only 0.4 of a percentage point to 6.7 per cent."

While last month's job loss was broad-based, the management, administration and construction sector's decline of 8,700 jobs was the heaviest.

The forestry, fishing, mining and oil sectors collectively lost 4,000 jobs in August.

Last month's losses were entirely in private sector, paid work. Most of them were part-time positions.

Vancouver's jobless rate rose to 6.0 per cent from 5.5 per cent, while Victoria's slipped to 6.3 per cent from 6.5 per cent.

After sitting at seven per cent for five months, Canada's jobless rate rose to 7.2 per cent in August, reflecting the sinking economy.

Analysts said the August jobs picture -- added to a much worse employment report from the U.S. -- will dampen GDP and consumer confidence.

The situation will worsen, they warned.

August marked the third straight month of net job losses for Canada's economy, a slippage usually associated with recession, said Warren Lovely, economist with CIBC World Markets.

No one is predicting a recession -- measured by two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth -- but observers say it may soon feel like one.

"When the economy is growing, you don't see three straight job losses," Lovely said.

"It's when it's stalled -- and in fact close to recession, perhaps teetering on the edge of recession -- that you start to see this bloodletting in the labour market."

The news was even worse south of the border where the jobless rate soared to 4.9 per cent in August from 4.5 per cent, the level it had held since April.

http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/story.asp?id={CC366DFB-34B7-466F-A441-055F73290CC0}

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), September 09, 2001