B.C. sheds 5,500 jobs in August amid nationwide losses<\/p>\n
Published 11:49 am Friday, September 4, 2026<\/p>\n
B.C. shed 5,500 jobs in August, with an even steeper decline in full-time employment, which decreased by 26,000 jobs from July to August.<\/p>\n
As a result, B.C.\u2019s unemployment rate ticked up 0.3 percentage points to 6.5 per cent, according to the latest Labour Force Survey released by Statistics Canada on Friday, Sept. 4. This is also 0.2 percentage points higher than the same time last year.<\/p>\n
The addition of 20,600 part-time jobs masked the far greater losses in full-time employment.<\/p>\n
Nationally, Canada lost 42,000 jobs in August, although the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.4 per cent.<\/p>\n
Adrian Dix, B.C.\u2019s acting jobs minister, brushed off the monthly loss, pointing out gains across the past three months.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny negative results are not positive for people, but over a period of months, we see much more stability in those markets and over the year, obviously, we\u2019ve seen an increase in full-time employment of about 20,000,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, Dix says these numbers point to the need to diversify British Columbia\u2019s economy to insulate its market from trade shocks. The United States and Canada were working on a trade deal to avoid new U.S. tariffs until Aug. 21, when the deal fell apart and thrust both countries into economic uncertainty.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to become more resilient and more independent,\u201d Dix said.<\/p>\n
Kiel Giddens, B.C. Conservative labour and economic development critic, points to a year-over-year loss of 17,200 natural resources jobs combined with the month-to-month full-time numbers as evidence the province is losing the type of well-paying jobs families rely on.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, the 26,000 full-time job losses are something to keep an eye on because of the fact these are the jobs that put food on the table for families,\u201d he said. \u201cFull-time work is absolutely essential.\u201d<\/p>\n
Giddens represents Prince George-Mackenzie, where forestry jobs have long dominated the local economy. But that sector is in free fall, decimated by lack of access to economically viable timber and the expansion of the tariffs and duties imposed by the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe job losses we\u2019ve seen in natural resources, there\u2019s more to come,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Giddens wants the forestry industry treated like a major project, with permits fast-tracked and a national focus boosting the sector. <\/p>\n
Dix highlights major projects when pointing to the province\u2019s economic positives, particularly the growth of the liquefied natural gas sector over the past nine years, and the electrification effort he is overseeing as energy minister to power that and the expansion of critical minerals extraction.<\/p>\n
But Giddens wonders why the province is only on par with the rest of Canada in job growth, considering its intrinsic edge.<\/p>\n
\u201cB.C. has all of the natural advantages, like access to tidewater, the best natural resources in the country,\u201d he said. \u201cWe should be absolutely leading the country, not following the trend.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"B.C. sheds 5,500 jobs in August amid nationwide losses Published 11:49 am Friday, September 4, 2026 B.C. shed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":885599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[903,49,48,87674],"class_list":["post-885598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-surrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=885598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/885598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/885599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=885598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=885598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=885598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}