BC ranked 9th in terms of monthly growth in paid employment in July according to data released today by Statistics Canada as part of its Survey of Paid Employment, Earnings and Hours. Overall payroll employment rose by an estimated 31,300 jobs for all Canada in July, but BC showed no growth, outperforming only Alberta which had a 0.1% loss. As shown in the graph, BC did better on an annual basis when July 2004 is compared to July 2003, but for most of the New Era BC lagged behind even on annual growth rates. That is not consistent with the rhetoric coming out of the Campbell government. Government ads claim that BC leads in job growth, but the data show that BC has fallen behind.

Average weekly earnings for BC employees declined by 0.3% in July. On an annual basis, BC ranked 7th in terms of growth of average weekly earnings.

The hard data do not support claims made in the Campbell government's expensive TV ads. That may be one of the reasons why two out of three British Columbians say that the Campbell government does not deserve to be re-elected.

{Note: Several people have commented that the graph shows BC ahead of Canada for growth in paid employment in July 2004 even though BC finished 9th among the provinces in July. How can that be? The answer is the 9th place ranking is based on growth between June and July while the graph shows annual growth rates based on dividing the value for July 2004 by the value for July 2003.}