Ravi Kahlon, Minister of Jobs, Economic Recovery and Innovation, has issued the following statement on the release of Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey for March 2022:

“As we shift into spring, British Columbia continues to lead the country in economic recovery with eight straight months of job growth. B.C. created 10,500 new jobs in March, building on the 100,000 jobs created last year.

“Supported by our StrongerBC Economic Plan, 94,500 more people are working in B.C. now than prior to the pandemic – the highest job recovery rate in Canada (103.6%). B.C.’s unemployment rate continues to be one of the lowest in Canada at 5.1%, remaining at a level not seen since before the pandemic began.

“B.C. also has the highest job recovery rates in the country for the private sector (104.9%) and for women (104.3%).

“Our government has been determined to grow good-paying jobs in our private-sector – both with unprecedented supports to get through the pandemic and new investments to grow jobs and opportunity as we recover. Today, we are leading Canada in private-sector job recovery, with 82,700 more people working in the private sector than prior to the pandemic, complementing the tens of thousands of new health-care workers and other public-sector workers delivering the services people in B.C. count on.

“In March, we paid tribute to the important work done to advance gender equity and I am pleased that B.C. leads Canada with 54,900 more women working now than before to the pandemic. This underlines the importance of our government’s supports for workers through the pandemic and of our work to expand access to quality, affordable child care so more women can enter the workforce.

“Helping to bolster the job recovery rate is a record number of people coming to B.C. to make our province home. New data shows more than 100,000 people made British Columbia home last year, arriving from other provinces, the territories and abroad. This sets a new record and makes it clear that B.C. is a leader in attracting the people we need to fill an anticipated one million job openings over the next decade as we work to deliver the housing and services to support this growth.

“This week, the Province also unveiled the Mass Timber Action Plan to support good, sustainable jobs for people in the forest industry in British Columbia, along with $1.2 million in funding to build four new mass timber construction projects for both residential and commercial use.

“B.C. is already a leader in this environmentally sustainable technology and has the highest number of mass timber buildings per capita of any province or state in North America. That’s why I am heading to the International Mass Timber Conference in Portland, Ore., next week to show the world the potential of our value-added, low-carbon wood product. Building relationships with potential investors face-to-face is invaluable as we seek to support good jobs for people in B.C.  in this emerging, innovative sector.

“We’re going to continue our work to build a strong economy recovery that benefits everyone, because we know that an economy built for people is an economy built to succeed.”

Learn More:

To read the Mass Timber Action Plan, visit: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/business/construction-industry/bc_masstimber_action_plan_2022.pdf

Stronger BC For Everyone: B.C.’s Economic Recovery Plan: https://strongerbc.gov.bc.ca/