L'article de The Province

High-paying white-collar jobs -- some worth $150,000 a year -- are going unfilled as B.C. boasts its lowest unemployment rate in almost 30 years.

Recruiting firms say their work is made harder by a provincial unemployment rate that hit a record low of 5.1 per cent in October.

Down 0.6 percentage points from September, it's the lowest since 1976, says Statistics Canada.

The Vancouver area's jobless rate fell to 5.4 per cent last month from 6.1 per cent, StatsCan numbers show. The Victoria area's crept up to 4.7 per cent from 4.6 per cent.

"If people aren't available, companies pay more to find them -- and they're willing to pay more," says Malcolm McGowan, managing partner for Holloway, Schultz & Partners.

McGowan says the recruitment company has been searching hard for accountants, auditors, controllers and others to fill jobs offering between $50,000 and $120,000.

Some firms are even offering signing bonuses.

"You think maybe only hockey players get those, but they even give those now to employees to try and attract them," McGowan says.

The situation is "great for the B.C. economy" but a challenge for his firm, McGowan notes.

"It makes it more difficult for us to find employees . . . and more difficult for firms to find employees, whether we do it for them or they try and do it themselves," he says.

"It's making it harder, so the searches take longer."

Mark Morris, business-development manager for the Vancouver office of Drake, a human resources and recruiting company, also blames the shortage of candidates on the low jobless rate.

"People that are employable are working," he says. "It's been trending upwards over the last year or so and become acute over the last three months.

"Unless the economy takes a drastic turn downwards, I see this continuing for the next year or two, at least."

But all is not rosy, Morris says, noting that many people can't take any of the many jobs in the $30,000 to $40,000 range because of the Lower Mainland's high cost of living.

Demand is high in the trades, and for legal secretaries, assistants and positions spanning the gulf from mid-level positions into higher management levels, he says.

B.C.'s job engine surged into overdrive last month, cranking out 14,400 jobs. In the past year, employment in B.C. has jumped by 69,500 jobs, or 3.3 per cent. The national average is 1.4 per cent.

"This employment growth-rate is the highest in the country," says Robert Mattioli, a labour market analyst with the Vancouver office of Service Canada.

The news leaves B.C. Finance Minister Carole Taylor ecstatic. She links it, in part, to government policies cutting taxes and regulation.

"You have to assume we're doing something right in British Columbia because, once again, we're leading the country in terms of these low unemployment numbers," Taylor says.

Taylor also links the job boom to a cycle of high commodity prices and low interest rates.

"Everything has come together -- almost the perfect storm in terms of economic strength here," she says. But she sounds one cautionary note.

"This is a month-to-month number so we're not assuming this is an indefinite change, because we think there will probably be some surprises in terms of commodity prices or interest rates going forward," she says.

NDP finance critic Jenny Kwan says the Liberals can only take partial credit for the situation, since, as Taylor says, it's linked to forces like commodity prices.

"I think that these are good numbers for B.C. but I would also say that before the minister of finance tries to take too much credit, there are some key factors we need to remember," says Kwan.

According to statistics, the wholesale and resale trade sector was the big winner last month, generating 20,300 jobs. That gain offset a loss of 11,000 jobs in education services, reflecting disruption from the teachers' strike.

Young people aged 15 to 24 and women fared especially well in B.C. last month, with both groups falling to record low unemployment rates, Statistics Canada's figures show.

Jim Sinclair, president of the B.C. Federation of Labour, welcomed last month's falling jobless rate but says it masks B.C.'s poor record on real wage growth.

Inflation grew by 3.4 per cent across Canada over the past 12 months, with wages rising by 3.9 per cent, Sinclair notes.

But in B.C., inflation rose by 2.4 per cent and wages by only 0.5 per cent, he says.

"Our wages aren't keeping up -- and in fact they haven't for a 10-year period," Sinclair concluded.

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