Letter to the Editor

The monthly labour force numbers for June continue to show signs of our province’s gradual economic restart, with more than 118,000 people finding jobs last month. Employment gains in May and June have recovered 40% of the total jobs lost since February.

While these numbers are encouraging, the road ahead is a challenging one, as total job losses since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic remain at 235,000. B.C.’s June unemployment rate is down 0.4% since May at 13.0%. The rate stood at 5.0% at the start of the pandemic in February.

Women are more likely to have lost their job due to COVID-19 than men, and youth unemployment remains high at a staggering 29%. However, the significant number of youth who entered the labour force in June is a sign of growing confidence that people can return to work safely.

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged and changed our province. Thousands of families, young people and businesses continue to struggle to make ends meet. That’s why it was essential that we acted quickly to put supports in place through our COVID-19 Action Plan. Our focus on restarting B.C.’s economy in a safe, responsible manner has also been a key contributor to our success in both battling the pandemic and gradually turning our economy around.

The co-operation and resiliency shown by people throughout B.C. in fighting back against COVID-19 continues to make a huge impact, and thanks to British Columbians, we were recently able to shift to Phase 3 of our four-phase restart plan.

As we build an economic recovery plan for our province, we are listening to the ideas of British Columbians on how to build back a stronger B.C. so everyone has a good job and secure future.

For information on services and benefits available to help people and businesses through the pandemic.

Carole James,

B.C. Minister of Finance

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