Prince George’s unemployment rate in March rose to 3.8 per cent, up from 3.2 per cent in February, our story from last week reads. Prince George’s unemployment remained lower than the B.C. average of 5.1 per cent in March. The province’s unemployment rate was the third-lowest in Canada’s, after Quebec (4.1 per cent), and Saskatchewan (5.0 per cent).
People are going back to work, in Prince George and across B.C. and Canada, for two simple reasons: employers are desperate for staff as the economy fully opens after two years under the COVID-19 rules and mandates and people are eager to return to the workforce.
But what kind of jobs are available? Retail and construction have been the two biggest sectors for new jobs over the past six months in Canada. Both pay minimum wage or slightly better for entry-level positions, which is most of what the new jobs are.
The low unemployment rate is driving wages up, which is good for workers in general, but much better for skilled workers. While wages were up 3.4 per cent in March compared to the previous March, pay was up 7.5 per cent for people working in professional, scientific and technical services jobs over the same time period.
Working-age adults flooding back into the job market proves a point that sociologists have known for many years and studied extensively. Most people would rather work for their pay than stay at home and wait for a government handout because a job provides far more than pay.
Jobs bring like-minded people together, working towards a common purpose. That feeling of being part of something bigger than one self is powerful and motivational. Everyone makes friends with their work colleagues, as well. Jobs provide a schedule, a sense of identity (I am a INSERT JOB HERE) and a sense of belonging (I work at INSERT EMPLOYER HERE).
When unemployment is low, those priceless intangibles become much bigger. Workers will accept slightly less money from one employer in exchange for a boss that treats them well, a job that gives them satisfaction, a workplace that makes them feel valuable and a schedule that fits into their personal life.
The dignity of work, as it is commonly referred to, is especially important to lower-income people and the working poor, regardless of the labour market. These are the individuals scraping to get by in Prince George and everywhere else, thanks to soaring fuel and food prices, high rent (and low selection) and rising house prices that makes owning their own home a more distant dream with each passing day.
For these workers, a low-stress and stable work environment, where the boss, fellow workers and customers all treat them with decency, is vital for their overall health and well-being. Going home to cope with challenging family issues, health problems, money worries and so on – day-to-day life, in other words - becomes a little easier when the job is good for the soul, instead of sucking every last drop of life from it.
These individuals are vulnerable and they go to bed every night knowing it. They are an expensive car repair bill and being unable to work for an indefinite period of time due to their own health or the illness of a family member from falling behind on their payments and being kicked out of their place.
For many people, this is where homelessness starts. Once someone is spinning on that vicious cycle, “get a job” becomes even more difficult. Those priceless benefits of working (the friends, the identity, the belonging) are replaced by isolation, shame, anger and loss. So who can blame them when their mental health deteriorates and they turn to substances to ease the pain of their despair?
The Prince George job numbers are encouraging but greater job security, better wages and housing stability for working residents is even better.
Editor-in-chief Neil Godbout
