Employment Tracker

Chart 1: Employment By Sector, 2019-Present
Chart 2: Employment By Region, 2019-Present
Chart 3: Employment By Region and Sector, 2019-Present
Chart 4: Leading Occupations By Sector, 2019-Present
Chart 5: Employment By Selected Characteristics, Present
Chart 6: Employment By Job Status, 2019-Present
Chart 7: Labour Force by Sector, 2019-Present

Chart 8: Labour Force by Region, 2019-Present
Chart 9: Unemployment Rate, 2019-Present
Chart 10: Actual Hours Worked Per Week, 2019-Present
Chart 11: Average Hourly Earnings, 2019-Present
Chart 12: Sales Revenue of Food Services and Drinking Places, 2019-Present
Chart 13: Hotel Occupancy Rate, 2019-Present

Statistics Canada develops national labour market projections based on a monthly LFS survey of 56,000 households, covering 100,000 individuals from across Canada. Data is available on a sector (aligned with specific NAICS codes) and regional basis (e.g. by development region within BC). While this sample size provides for statistically reliable projections at the national, provincial and industry levels, the results become less statistically reliable once data is presented at the sector and regional level within BC.

As an illustration, BC accounts for about 12% of Canadian households and the Tourism and Hospitality sector typically employs about 12% of British Columbians. Applying these percentages, we would expect that about 1.4% of the individuals covered in the survey may be associated with the Tourism and Hospitality industry in BC (i.e. Of the 100,000 individuals captured in the household survey, about 1,400 would be associated with the Tourism and Hospitality industry in BC; this would provide a statistically reliable estimate of employment in the industry, equal to ± 2.6% at a confidence level of 95%). As the projections are broken down by sector within the industry and by development region within BC, the results are based on fewer and fewer surveys (and therefore become less statistically reliable). The results are also subject to rounding errors (e.g. results are reported in increments of 2,500).

As such, readers should be cautious when interpreting results presented at the sector and regional levels, particularly for smaller sectors and regions where the results can vary significantly on a month to month basis.

For additional information related to the LFS Study, please refer to the LFS User Guide. For further information about statistical reliability, please refer to Table 7.1 (Coefficients of Variation) in the LFS User Guide. Generally speaking, the larger the count presented in a graph or table, the greater the statistical reliability. When the count (e.g. the number of people employed in the Food and Beverage sector) is greater than or equal to 39,600, the coefficient of variation (CV) is less than or equal to 10%; when the count in the range of 39,600 and 13,900, the CV is from 10% to 20%; and when the counts are below 10,000, the CV is typically 20% or above.

For more information, please refer to Table 7.1 – Coefficient of variation (CV) for estimates of monthly totals, Canada and provinces, from the LFS User Guide.

• Accommodation:
  • 7211 Traveller accommodation
  • 7212 Recreational vehicle (RV) parks and recreational camps
• Food and Beverage Services:
  • 7224 Drinking places (alcoholic beverages)
  • 7225 Full-service restaurants and limited-service eating places
• Recreation and Entertainment:
  • 5121 Motion picture and video exhibition
  • 7111 Performing arts companies
  • 7112 Spectator sports
  • 7115 Independent artists, writers and performers
  • 7121 Heritage institutions
  • 7131 Amusement parks and arcades
  • 7132 Gambling industries
  • 7139 Other amusement and recreation industries

• Transportation and Travel Services:
  • 4811 Scheduled air transport
  • 4812 Non-scheduled air transport
  • 4821 Rail transportation
  • 4831 Deep sea, coastal and great lakes water transportation
  • 4832 Inland water transportation
  • 4851 Urban transit systems
  • 4853 Taxi and limousine service
  • 4854 School and employee bus transportation
  • 4855 Charter bus industry
  • 4859 Other transit and ground passenger transportation
  • 4871 Scenic and sightseeing transportation – land
  • 4872 Scenic and sightseeing transportation – water
  • 4879 Scenic and sightseeing transportation – other
  • 5321 Automotive equipment rental and leasing
  • 5615 Travel arrangement and reservation services

LFS collects data from the eight economic development regions within British Columbia: North Coast, Nechako, Northeast, Cariboo, Vancouver Island/Coast, Mainland/Southwest, Thompson Okanagan, and the Kootenays. The following map shows the eight economic development regions in British Columbia.

Source: https://pwp.vpl.ca/siic/job-search-resources/regions-of-british-columbia/

While there are eight development regions in BC, this employment tracker reports data for six regions:

• Cariboo
• Lower Mainland
• Northern BC (North Coast, Northeast, Nechako)
• Thompson Okanagan
• Kootenay
• Vancouver Island

Three of the Northern regions (Northeast, North Coast, and Nechako) are sparsely sampled by the LFS, so the data for these regions are combined and defined to be Northern BC.

Comparison of Development Regions to Tourism Regions in BC

The map below compares the eight economic development regions (black uppercase text and transparent) to the six tourism regions (white text and coloured) in BC. The six tourism regions within British Columbia include Northern BC, Cariboo Chilcotin Coast, Vancouver Island, Vancouver Coast & Mountains, Thompson Okanagan, and Kootenay Rockies. The tourism regions align with the six regional destination marketing organizations in British Columbia. As indicated below, while there is some commonality between the two sets of regional definitions, no region aligns directly with their counterpart in the opposite set.

Source: GO2HR. https://www.go2hr.ca/essential-tips-info/working-in-bc-tourism-regions;
WorkBC. https://www.workbc.ca/labour-market-industry/regional-profiles.aspx