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BC sheds 6,000 jobs in January, mostly women impacted
February 9, 2007
Vancouver - BC's economy shed more than 6,000 jobs in the month of January says B.C. Federation of Labour President Jim Sinclair, and women took the brunt of the decline.
"While overall unemployment remains low, we have serious concerns about the quality of jobs in BC," Sinclair said, noting that CIBC World Markets recently reported that BC has the worst job quality of any region in Canada.
According to CIBC "...a low quality job is better than no job, but the strong headline employment numbers do not necessarily indicate fast economic growth." Measuring factors including number of part-time jobs and wages, CIBC determined that "by province, the largest decline in the quality of employment during the last six months of 2006 was in British Columbia."
Actual numbers from this month's Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey show that compared to December 2006, BC lost 6,200 jobs in January of 2007. In particular while BC recorded employment gains for men of 4,400 jobs, women lost over 10,000 jobs.
"The reality facing working families is that real wages haven't grown, and not everyone is benefiting from BC's economic gains," Sinclair added.
Adjusting for inflation, according to Statistics Canada, the real average weekly wage rate in 1992 dollars is $557 in 2003 and $557 in 2006, compared to real GDP in BC which grew by three percent over that period. Total corporate profits in BC, in current dollars, grew 76 percent while total wages only grew by 22 percent since 2001.
"We face significant challenges in BC's continuing boom and bust economy," said Sinclair. "We urgently need strategic investments in education and training, childcare, and support for our resource communities if we want economic growth to continue."
"And we also have to ensure everyone benefits from that growth," Sinclair stated. "It's time to give BC a raise and increase the minimum wage to $10 so BC's lowest paid workers can earn enough to stay above the poverty line."
"We also have to do more to help BC's most disadvantaged, we must also boost social assistance rates and develop a strong plan to tackle the growing levels of poverty in BC," Sinclair added.
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For more information contact: Jessie Uppal 604-430-1421 or 604-220-0739
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