Employment Rate by Development Region

Topic Box from the 2006 Sixth Annual Benchmark Report

Description
This indicator shows, for the population aged 15 and older, the number of employed persons (i.e., working for pay or profit, doing unpaid work contributing to the operation of a family farm or business) expressed as a percentage of the total.

Why it's Important
The employment rate is an effective measure of labour utilization. High labour utilization traditionally accompanies strong economic activity.

Analysis
The Northeast had the highest employment rate among the Development Regions in 2005 and for the 1996 through 2005 average. Its average employment rate was 4.6 percentage points (7.1%) higher than that in 2nd ranked North Coast & Nechako. The Kooteny Development Region had the lowest employment rate from 1996 through 2005 with an average rate of 55.9%, 12.8 percentage points (22.8%) lower than in the Northeast.

Over the period of analysis, the lowest employment rate among the Development Regions was 53.7% for Vancouver Island-Coast in 2001. Over the same period, the highest rate observed was the Northeast's 2003 value of 72.6%.

Notes: The North Coast and Nechako Development Regions are combined in the Labour Force Survey, the source for these data. The population group used in this comparison differs from other Progress Board comparisons because these data are not readily available by Development Region.