Thoughts on BC Politics and More

Just last week, the BC NDP government was crowing about provincial labour stats from August 9 th .  In some area there were positive signs, however as you can see, the most important ages groups and genders were awash with minus signs: B.C. Highlights The unemployment rate in British Columbia was 4.4% in July, down slightly (-0.1 points) from June .... BUT overall it should be noted that ... the labour force contracted (‑8,500) and there were fewer jobs (‑4,800) in July ... In July, 8,100 part-time jobs were added , while 12,900 full-time jobs were lost . By age group, the full-time employment gains for those aged 55 and over (+4,700) were offset by fewer jobs among those 25 to 54 (‑12,300) and 15 to 24 (‑5,300). On the other hand, there were increases in part-time jobs for those aged 25 to 54 (+8,700) and 15 to 24 (+5,800), while part-time employment declined for those aged 55 years and over (‑6,400) . Employme...

The latest information is out from BC Stats, and on the positive site, when it came to the sale of goods manufactured in British Columbia, they increased 3.8% in March ... a turnaround from the month before when there was a 1.7% loss. So, a bit of good news when it came to the sale of goods manufactured in BC Meantime, BC’s consumer price index (CPI) was 2.7% higher last month, compared to a year ago.   Here’s where we continue to get hit in the wallet the most: The cost of food climbed 3.2% since April of 2018, with the prices for groceries purchased from stores up 3.4%.   Within the food category, the highest rise in prices was for fresh vegetables (+14.1%) , followed by coffee and tea (+8.1%), fresh fruit (+4.1%), and meat (+3.3%) . Further, housing costs continued to climb last month – increasing by 2.7% percent – that was for both homeowners, and renters.   Other items included in the housing category, which also saw increases ...