On Thursday, October 9th, Statistics Canada released data on non-residential construction and said "In the third quarter, investment in non-residential building construction by governments and businesses showed a fifth straight quarterly gain and reached a record $6.6 billion." Its report went on to say "Investment in non-residential buildings increased in 11 provinces and territories in the third quarter. Newfoundland and Labrador led in dollar terms (+33.2% to $139 million), followed by Ontario and Nova Scotia. British Columbia had the strongest decline (-3.6% to $557 million)." Those looking at the table would have noticed that BC's 3.6% decline on a quarter to quarter basis is only part of the story. Compared to the same quarter in 2002 BC's decline was 9.4%.

On Friday, October 10th, Statistics Canada released its monthly Labour Force Survey, and for all Canada said "Spurred by a large gain in full-time jobs, employment rose by an estimated 46,000 in September, following slight declines in the previous two months." Unfortunately, BC lost 5,300 jobs in September and the number of unemployed climbed to 200,900. BC's unemployment rate rose to a shocking 9.1%.

Gross Domestic Product is a measure of total production in an economy. It can be criticized for not including measures of "externalities" such as damage to the environment, and it can be criticized for not including non-market production such as caring for sick and disabled family members. Notwithstanding criticisms, GDP is one of the most commonly recognized measures of economic performance. Gordon Campbell has made real per capita GDP one of the most important indicators of his government's performance. The bad news indicates trouble for GDP in the third quarter.

Bad news on two key economic indicators came at the end of the week when Human Resource Minister Murray Coell looked foolish by ranting about socialism instead of answering a simple question on how many people will be kicked off welfare in April when the maximum two year eligibility rule kicks in. Coell repeatedly claimed that his government was creating almost 100,000 jobs. Yesterday I wrote that when May 2001 is compared to August 2003, BC's job growth is less than half of Coell's claim. The loss of over 5,000 jobs in September makes the performance even worse.

It is time to show concern for the victims of the slow economy. It is time to restore the social safety net, and not kick people off in April.

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For those who like to look at the hard data to access what is going on, one of the best sources is Roger Sauvé's BC Provincial Trends Tracker®. You can download a free sample from http://www.peoplepatternsconsulting.com/bcprovincialtrendstracker.htm. I have never met Sauvé and I have no idea what his politics are, but I can say that he produces a first class comprehensive review of economic indicators for BC. A lot of free data is available from Statistics Canada, banks, Credit Union Central of BC and BC Stats, but any serious commentators would be well advised to subscribe to Sauvé's excellent publication for data and analysis not replicated in any other single source.