Diana Gibson, Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation, has issued the following statement on the release of Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey for February 2025:

“In the face of this week’s unfair tariffs and even more uncertainty from the United States, B.C. is standing strong for people. While our economy is built to withstand U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s tariffs better than most other provinces, the impact is still significant.

“We are growing the economy by helping people train for better jobs, getting major projects built and diversifying where we sell our goods, including breaking down interprovincial trade barriers.

“Today's Labour Force Survey data shows the significant impacts of Trump’s tariff threats on our economy. Despite that, so far this year, B.C. has gained 25,400 full-time jobs, the highest increase across the country and the second-highest increase in women’s full-time employment among provinces (+18,400).

“B.C. continues to lead the country with an average hourly wage of $37.89 and our unemployment rate is 6.0%, which is below the national average and the third-lowest unemployment rate among provinces.

“B.C. has shown resiliency since the beginning of this year with the highest increase in self-employment among provinces (+15,100). Since July 2017, B.C. has gained 175,500 private-sector jobs.

“Yesterday, Premier David Eby announced B.C. will be introducing legislation in the coming days to respond to the unprecedented tariff threat. It will allow the Province to apply counter-measures, such as implementing fees on commercial trucks that pass through B.C. on their way to Alaska. If passed, it will also provide legislative authority to remove internal trade barriers and help us develop the long-term solutions that we need to ensure our economy grows so we come out the other side stronger, more united and more prosperous than ever. 

“We have been working with the other jurisdictions to increase labour mobility by improving transparency and to reduce the administrative burden for labour-mobility applicants to support the timely and seamless mobility of workers to fill jobs wherever they are available. We are also working with the federal government and other provinces to launch pan-Canadian direct-to-consumer alcohol sales for Canadian products.

“This builds on the actions last week to remove two trade exceptions to promote more interprovincial trade, including restrictions on the fisheries sector and on procurement, and with the wine deal we recently signed with Alberta.

“We’re accelerating 18 major resource projects that are ready to move forward and can create new jobs to support the B.C. economy in the face of tariffs. The projects are worth $20 billion and are expected to create approximately 8,000 jobs during construction across B.C.

“B.C. is protecting services and defending people’s jobs and the economy. Growing a stronger and more diverse economy will help protect people in B.C. from instability outside our borders, with investments that will bring good-paying jobs to the province in robust and sustainable industries.

Learn More:

To learn more about B.C’s response to tariffs, visit: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/employment-business/tariffs

Premier announces new measures to defend B.C. from Trump tariffs, updated March 6, 2025: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2025PREM0011-000174

To learn more about Clean and Competitive: A Blueprint for B.C.’s Industrial Future, visit: https://news.gov.bc.ca/files/Clean_and_Competitive.pdf

To find out more about the Stronger BC Economic Plan, visit: https://strongerbc.gov.bc.ca/plan/