Statistics Canada publishes regional unemployment numbers using two different definitions of regions. The first is based on "economic regions" defined in the Labour Force Survey. The second is based on geographic descriptions determined by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC). The figures published for the economic regions are interesting, but the figures published for the HRSDC regions have immediate practical application; they are used to determine the length of benefits in the Employment Insurance Program.

For both types of regions, the published regional unemployment rates use three month moving averages of seasonally unadjusted data. The seven economic regions in BC and their unemployment rate for the three month average ending October 2004 are: Vancouver Island and Coast (7.5%), Lower Mainland-Southwest (6.9%), Thompson-Okanagan (6.5%), Kootenay (7.5%), Cariboo (7.3%), North Coast and Nechako (9.5%), and Northeast (4.7%). It is good news that all of those unemployment rates are single digit and lower than they were for the average ending October 2003. The news is not quite as good for the rate that matters in determining Employment Insurance benefits. The six HRSDC regions and their unemployment rates are: Southern Interior (8.5%), Abbotsford (7.1%), Vancouver (6.8%), Victoria (6.2%), Southern Coastal (10.1%) and Northern (13.0%). The rate for Abbotsford is higher than it was a year earlier; two of the six regions still suffer double digit unemployment, and all but two have unemployment rates higher than the 6.9% seasonally adjusted figure for October (only one is lower than BC's 6.3% seasonally unadjusted figure for October).

The number of beneficiaries receiving regular Employment Insurance benefits is published by Statistics Canada. In August (the most recent data available), 58,960 beneficiaries were receiving benefits in BC, a 4.7% increase from July. This was the first time in a year that the number of beneficiaries increased in BC.

Despite being tied up at their Whistler convention, Skills Development and Labour Minister Graham Bruce was quick to issue a news release trumpeting the good news contained in the October Labour Force Survey. As you might have guessed, he chose to use the economic regions rather than the regions used to determine Employment Insurance benefits. He also chose to describe the October numbers as indicating continuing economic turn around. We should all hope he's right because that would encourage the government to announce more pre-election "goodies". Unfortunately, construction alone accounts for more than the total job growth. In other words, other industries, especially manufacturing, the resource sector, retail and wholesale trade, have lost jobs over the last year. There is room for some cautious optimism but how much varies by industry and region. It is definitely not true that BC has broad based economic growth.