Gavin Dew, MLA for Kelowna-Mission and Critic for Jobs, Economic Development, Innovation and Artificial Intelligence, is sounding the alarm on BC’s youth job crisis following the latest Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey, which shows rising youth unemployment, increasing unemployment overall, and continued losses in private sector employment across British Columbia.
Youth unemployment increased from 14.4 per cent to 15.3 per cent in May, while more than 7,300 young people left British Columbia over the past year. BC's unemployment rate remained at 6.8 per cent, but total unemployment increased from 210,700 to 212,200 people while the province's population declined.
"We are facing a youth jobs crisis. You see it in the stats and you hear it from youth and their worried parents," said Dew. "I'm getting more calls than ever from people desperately looking for summer jobs for their kids. More than 7,000 young people have left B.C. in the last year in search of greener pastures. We are watching our families and our future flee."
Dew noted that BC's unemployment rate is now higher than the national average, with only Ontario and the Atlantic provinces recording higher unemployment rates.
"Holding the unemployment rate steady by losing population isn't something any government should be proud of. Neither is a labour market where the only job category that is growing is the public sector."
Over the past year in British Columbia, public sector employment increased by 17,300 jobs, while private sector employment declined by 30,500 jobs and self-employment fell by 16,300.
"This NDP government continues to bloat the bureaucracy while neglecting the private sector. They don't have a growth strategy; they have a problem."
The Labour Force Survey also showed significant losses in key sectors of the economy. Over the past year, British Columbia lost 7,500 jobs in forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, oil and gas, as well as 29,600 jobs in wholesale and retail trade.
"We are hemorrhaging the kinds of resource jobs that pay big wages and the kinds of retail jobs that often give young people their first step on the ladder," said Dew. "My community of Kelowna has the highest unemployment rate in the country, and you can feel it as it permeates through the local economy. People who are feeling the pinch don't spend money."
Dew also noted that artificial intelligence is transforming the labour market in real time, but the NDP can’t keep up.
"AI is fundamentally changing the labour market. But the government has no serious youth jobs plan. We are one of the only provinces with no incentives to hire youth, and after eight months on the job, the Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence still hasn't produced a plan. The government has no plan for youth employment, no plan for AI, and no plan for economic growth."
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