With a flock of construction cranes towering over Victoria, the booming construction sector is driving the region’s economy, putting Victoria in top spot with the lowest unemployment rate in the country.
According to Statistics Canada’s monthly labour-force survey, Greater Victoria and Guelph both had unemployment rates of 3.9 per cent in May. For Victoria, it was a slip from the 3.7 per cent it hit in April of this year.
But over the last 12 months, Victoria has seen the number of people employed increase by 11,000, which has driven the unemployment rate down from 5.6 per cent in May 2016.
A lot of that has to do with those who swing hammers and pour concrete. According to the national number cruncher, there are 6,700 more people now employed in construction in Victoria — 11,000 more provincewide — than in May of last year.
“We are working flat out. I’d say this is the busiest we’ve been since 2007,” said Katy Fairley, vice-president of business development at Kinetic Construction.
“We are seeing an unprecedented influx of construction capital and infrastructure spending, certainly from the federal government but also from the commercial and private side as well.”
Kinetic employs about 140 workers on sites around the region, and it’s now more difficult to find labourers and skilled trades in all sub-sectors.
“It’s becoming increasingly difficult to get adequate coverage,” said Fairley, noting they have had to look out of province for skilled trades in some cases and extend work schedules for some workers. “We all have to start thinking outside the box, that’s what the industry is looking at for the next year and a half.”
Anthony Minniti, chairman of the Vancouver Island Construction Association and vice-president of Century Group, said several things have driven the pace of construction hiring in the region.
He said the current robust development sector — housing, shopping malls, office towers — combined with employers adding staff to deal with the imminent retirement of skilled tradespeople, and all levels of government investing in capital projects has meant a healthy job market.
“Design, construction and the related supply sector are stable, well-paying jobs being considered by youth, who previously would have overlooked this sector,” said Minniti. “There is also a general optimistic tone among the development and construction community — this leads to employer investment in staff, staff training and upgrading.”
According to Statistics Canada spokesman Vincent Ferrao, there are a number of positive signs in the economies of both Victoria and B.C.
“The employment increases are fairly broad-based,” Ferrao said.
He noted that of the 99,000 new jobs created in the province since May of last year, 66,000 were full-time positions.
In addition to the strong construction numbers, the health-care and social-assistance sectors saw an increase of 2,500 jobs since last year in Greater Victoria, and 16,000 provincewide.
Nationally, the labour market rode a surprisingly strong wave of new jobs last month as hiring rose in key areas like the private sector, manufacturing and full-time work, said Statistics Canada. Overall, the country registered a net gain of 54,400 jobs in May.
Behind that number, Canada saw a surge of 77,000 new full-time positions in May, which more than made up for a decline of 22,300 part-time jobs.
The national unemployment rate edged up to 6.6 per cent, a rise of 0.1 of a percentage point, as more people entered the job market in search of work.
