BC Employment by Sector December 2012

Below are some graphs highlighting Vancouver's and BC's employment over the past 15 years in various sectors. But first here are the historical employment, participation, and unemployment rates (CANSIM tables 282-0117 and 282-0087)

And the spreads between the rest of BC and Vancouver CMA. A positive number means the rest of the province has a higher number than Vancouver. A sharp 1% downtick in Vancouver CMA unemployment has shot the unemployment spread back above zero.

Here are the contributions of the two major goods producing sectors (construction and manufacturing) as a percentage of total employment. These are seasonally unadjusted with 3 month moving average applied (CANSIM table 282-0111).

And the service producing sectors (NSA)

The red line on the service sector graph, "Finance, insurance, real estate and leasing [52-53]", has dropped down as it did in 2008. Transportation and warehousing is showing a marked rebound as % employment. Strength in manufacturing has waned of late and its movements have been coupled tightly with construction employment. The sudden downtick in the unemployment rate is good news, if it sticks.