On Friday,
July 8th, Statistics Canada released its June
Labour Force Survey. In case you didn't get to page
A28 in Sunday's Province, the headline on the one
column wide story was "Job creation stalls in BC".
It was followed by a sub-headline: "National growth
strong enough to give central bank cause to raise rates".
At least the Province covered the story; the best
the Vancouver Sun did on Saturday was to include
the news on page G5 in an interview with Finance Minister
Carole Taylor, headlined "Taylor feels B.C. economy
still has room to grow". The paper can't be accused
of burying the story since it had six pictures of the smiling
Finance Minister on the front page of the business section
pointing to the interview on G5. During the pre-election
period and the election campaign, the Sun regularly
ran prominent stories, sometimes even multiple page special
sections, on how the BC economy was "booming".
This time it took until the seventh paragraph in the story
on Taylor for the paper to say "B.C.'s red-hot job
market cooled in June, shedding 5,800 jobs to edge unemployment
up to 5.8 per cent, although the jobless rate remains at
near quarter-century lows." Seven paragraphs later,
and after much more positive spin, the Sun story reported
that "BC saw part-time employment increase by 26,200
jobs, which wasn't enough to counter the loss of 31,900
full-time jobs."
Notwithstanding
the use of the words "red-hot job market", the
2.7% annual growth that employment in BC has averaged since
November 2003 is almost 40% lower than the 4.4% it averaged
between November 1993 and March 1995 when the job market
was truly hot; it is also 30% lower than the 3.9% annual
growth averaged for 4 years between March 1987 and January
1991. The Sun does not pause long enough in its cheerleading
for the Campbell government to provide objective reporting
that provides perspective.
True
to form the Sun concluded its article with exactly
the opposite forecast on interest rates as was provided
in the Province. The tab quoted a TD Securities spokesperson
as saying that "the central bank can't wait much longer
to begin raising borrowing costs to head off inflation";
the Sun quoted a RBC Financial spokesperson predicting
that "the Bank of Canada will hold its key lending
rate at 2.5 per cent at its meeting next week, then increase
it gradually by perhaps a half-a-percentage point over the
fall and another three-quarter point in 2006." What
happens to interest rates is of vital importance to the
BC economy. Retail trade, which also stalled in the most
recent (April) report, has grown based on rising consumer
debt. Both trade and housing could be slowed by rising interest
rates. Does anyone believe that the Campbell government,
which rushed to take credit for moderate to good growth,
will step in and take responsibility for the inevitable
slowdown when it occurs?
About
Me |
Mail Me | Links