B.C. added 25,000 jobs in May despite national slowdown
Province gained 0.9% employment growth while Canada overall added 88,000. Unemployment in Vancouver dropped to 6.4%.
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British Columbia added 25,000 jobs in May, a 0.9 per cent increase, as the province outpaced a slower national jobs picture, according to Statistics Canada.
The gain partially offsets a 39,000-job drop in February and March. B.C.'s unemployment rate held steady at 6.8 per cent despite the additions. Seasonally adjusted figures show the province's full-time labour force increased by almost 34,000 jobs compared to April, though it remained down nearly 39,000 from May 2025.
Vancouver saw its unemployment rate fall 0.6 percentage points to 6.4 per cent in May, though it remains nearly unchanged year-over-year.
Nationally, Canada gained 88,000 jobs in May — a 0.4 per cent increase over April — and the unemployment rate dipped 0.3 percentage points to 6.6 per cent. BMO economist Benjamin Reitzes said the numbers should "silence the recession crowd."
"The Canada story remains the same: the economy is hanging in there, despite the headwinds from trade and now energy prices," Reitzes noted. "Just when you think Canada is crumbling amid a string of negative data points, things reverse."
He pointed to several similar rebounds over the past year, concluding: "The economy isn't booming, but it isn't falling apart, either." The results come as Canada navigates ongoing trade tensions and after Statistics Canada reported two consecutive quarters of economic contraction, though the C.D. Howe Institute's Business Cycle Council said the data wasn't sufficient to formally declare a recession.