Employment Measures

Archived Topic Box from the 2005 Fifth Annual Benchmark Report

Employment and Employment Growth
Employment measures the total number of jobs¹ in a jurisdiction and annual employment growth is the number of jobs added or lost in a given year. Employment in BC grew by 2.3% between 2003 and 2004 for a 3rd place rank (in Canada) and by 1.7%, on average, between 1995 and 2004 for a 6th place rank. British Columbia ranked third for employment growth from 1995 through 1997, had weak growth from 1998 through 2001 (10th, 7th, 7th and 9th, respectively), and improved to 5th in 2002, 2nd in 2003, and 3rd in 2004.

Unemployment Rate
The unemployment rate measures the number of unemployed persons expressed as a percentage of the labour force. British Columbia ranked 4th (in Canada) in 1995 and 1996 and 5th in every year between 1997 and 2004. British Columbia's unemployment rate ranged from a high of 8.9% (in 1998) to a low of 7.2% (in 2000 and 2004) over the 1995 to 2004 period.

Employment Rate
The employment rate used in Core Target 3 tracks, among those aged 15 to 64, the ratio of employment to population². British Columbia ranked 4th on this measure between 1995 and 1997, 5th between 1998 and 2001, 7th in 2002, 6th in 2003 and 5th in 2004.

Notes: ¹Subject to survey coverage; Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey covers only the civilian, non-institutional population 15 years and older. ²Statistics Canada reports the employment rate for the 15 and older population.