B.C. Finance Minister Colin Hansen speaks to media on Friday in Vancouver about employment and the recession.
B.C. Finance Minister Colin Hansen speaks to media on Friday in Vancouver about employment and the recession.
Photograph by: Jon Murray, The Province
As the global economic crisis continues to spill into B.C., some 40,000 jobs are predicted to vanish across the province in 2009, according to an economic report to be released this week by Central 1 Credit Union.
Those most at risk work in construction, but substantial job losses are also expected in the retail, primary-resource and manufacturing industries.
Finance and real-estate jobs will also disappear, say forecasters.
“It’s been a fast adjustment from growth to recession and it caught most people by surprise,” says Dave Hobden, a Central 1 Credit Union economist. “We thought it would take longer to wash up on our shores.”
The construction sector is predicted to shed some 25,000 jobs in 2009, followed by retail and wholesale trade, which are expected to see 11,000 job losses, according to the new economic report.
B.C.’s primary resource sector (which includes mining, forestry, fisheries and agriculture) is predicted to take 4,000 workers off the payrolls, while manufacturing is forecast to cut 3,000 jobs.
Predicted job losses amount to a 1.7-per-cent decline in employment.
“The rapidity of the change has been unprecedented,” said Ken Peacock, director of economic research at the B.C. Business
Council.
Nationally, 34,000 full-time jobs were cut in December, according to figures released Friday by Statistics Canada.
B.C. shed 7,500 jobs in December — most in construction — pushing unemployment to 5.3 per cent, up from 4.9 per cent in November.
In B.C., provincial Finance Minister Colin Hansen said he still believes B.C.’s in a better position than the rest of Canada.
Hansen said economic advisers predict the downturn will bottom out in mid-2009, with B.C. rebounding in 2010.
Over the past few years, B.C.’s buoyant economy was propelled by job growth, rising incomes and investment in the housing sector.
But as sales in housing slow and prices drop, demand for new home construction is also flagging.
Housing starts in Vancouver fell six per cent in 2008 over 2007.
“You’ve all read about the condo projects put on hold. There’s one in Surrey with 900 units on hold. That’s not just 900 units — that’s 900 kitchens, at least 900 bathrooms, 900 units full of hardwood flooring — you name it,” said Peter Simpson, CEO of the Greater Vancouver Home Builders Association.
To stem job losses, the B.C. government is trying to accelerate
$7-billion worth of infrastructure spending earmarked for 2009.
“We want to make sure we get shovels in the ground and workers on the job sites as soon as possible,” said Hansen.
Projects include seismic upgrading for schools, highway improvements and hospital construction in Kelowna and Victoria.
Retailers are bracing for a tough year as consumer confidence dwindles. Fewer dollars will be spent on furniture, home appliances and electronics, Peacock predicts.
Dismal economic conditions facing many of our trading partners mean B.C.’s exports will suffer.
With the U.S. housing sector still in a slump, B.C.’s forestry industry (responsible for 40 per cent of the province’s goods exports) is expected to continue its slide.
The outlook in mining is as bleak, given the substantial decline in commodity prices. Last week, Vancouver-based mining company Teck Cominco announced 1,400 workers — 400 of them in B.C. — will be laid off.
http://www.theprovince.com/Business/...953/story.html 
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