BC’s unemployment rate of 5.7% is being put to the test by the Federation of Labour.
Job growth in the province has grown by 2.6% in the past year which equates to 62,000 more people finding work.
However, President Irene Lazinger believes the quality of jobs is taking a big hit.
“People are struggling with the issue of affordability and that’s because we are losing full-time jobs to part-time precarious jobs and it so regionally based. If you look at Prince George or Kelowna these are areas where job growth is stagnant.”
MYPGNOW also asked Lanzinger what should be done to fix the problem.
“We want the government to be honest about the job numbers and to do an investigation into the amount of these that are good paying jobs. We have also called on them to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour since 25% of our population makes less than that.”
The Christy Clark government could also be doing more for one of the most crucial sectors in the region. “There are lots of jobs in forestry if we manage our forests properly if we keep the logs here and mill them since we have decided to ship them out to other countries for 15 years since the Liberals changed the rules.”
According to the Federation of Labour, BC lost 20,000 full-time jobs in the latest survey from Stats Canada.