Local labour force stats generally moving in positive direction

The economic region that includes Vernon and the North Okanagan saw positive labour force movements in the first three months of the year, with the exception of a few broad industries.

Statistics Canada reports the first quarter job vacancies for the Thompson-Okanagan was 17,365 across all industries, while the average hourly wage was $24.50.

Comparatively, there were 17,855 job openings in the fourth quarter and 19,980 in the first quarter of 2022.

During those comparable months, the average wage was also recorded at $24.10 and $22.80, respectively.

While the general labour force statistics moved in a positive direction, on a quarter-to-quarter basis, four sectors did the opposite.

StatsCan reported vacancies for occupations in education, law and social, community and government services rose to 1,735 compared to 1,650 the previous quarter; vacancies in sales and service occupations rose to 6,825 from 6,640; trades, transport and equipment operators and related occupation vacancies rose from 3,085 to 3,285; and vacancies for occupations in manufacturing and utilities increased from 405 to 545.

StatsCan did not provide job vacancy data on local health, management, and ‘unclassified’ occupations.

The local sector that saw the largest actual decline in vacancies was natural resources, agriculture and related production occupations, decreasing from 1,205 to 825 vacancies, followed by business, finance and administration occupation vacancies falling from 1,455 to 1,145.

Provincial data showed B.C.’s total job vacancies was 123,600 in the first quarter of 2023, marking an improvement from the fourth quarter of 2022 when the province had 132,305 job openings.

B.C.’s average hourly wage did decline from $26.55 to $26.50 on a quarterly basis.

The local and provincial data provided by StatsCan was not adjusted for seasonality.

Meanwhile, Canada as a whole, saw job vacancies for all types of work recorded at 843,190 in the first quarter of 2023. That marked an improvement from the previous quarter’s 876,665 job vacancies across the nation.

It was the third consecutive quarter where national job vacancies declined, after reaching a record high of 984,600 in the second quarter of 2022.

The average hourly wage in Canada rose to $25.40 in the first three months of 2023 from $24.90 the previous quarter.

The national data was adjusted for seasonality.