Thoughts on BC Politics and More

  Employment rose by 40,000 (+0.2%) in August. This increase in employment was outpaced by population growth (+103,000; +0.3%) and the employment rat e — t he proportion of the population aged 15 and older who are employe d — f ell 0.1 percentage points to 61.9% ...   ... Employment increased by 12,000 in British Columbia in August 2023, the first significant increase in the province since September 2022. At 61.5%, the employment rate in the province was little changed in August 2023, but was down 0.7 percentage points from the beginning of the year ... For the full report, CLICK HERE

Policymakers are in the dark when it comes to dealing with the growing number of temporary residents in Canada. The large difference in estimates by Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey (LFS) and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC) data on Canada’s temporary resident (TR) population demonstrates that more high-quality information on the size and work activity of this group is needed, according to a new C.D. Howe Institute report.    In “Canada’s Missing Workers: Temporary Residents Working in Canada,” Roger Phillips Scholar of Social Policy, Mikal Skuterud finds that there is reason to believe that Statistics Canada’s LFS – its flagship survey on labour market activity – is failing to capture work activity in this group, which encompasses workers, students and asylum claimants that have been authorized to enter Canada for temporary purposes such as work permits, study visas or a temporary resident visas.    As reported in The Globe a...