VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to the latest BC Check-Up: Work report, an annual release by the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC) examining employment trends across the province, B.C.'s unemployment rate rose to 6.6 per cent in October 2025, up from 5.8 per cent one year earlier.
"B.C.’s labour market recovery has stalled as trade tensions with the United States have led to ongoing disruptions and uncertainty,” said Lori Mathison, FCPA, LLB, president and CEO of CPABC. “Hiring has slowed considerably in the face of these challenges.”
Employment in B.C. rose by 36,100 or 1.2 per cent on a year-over-year basis in October, lagging working-age population growth of 1.4 per cent over the same period. As a result, the province’s employment rate hovered around the decade low – excluding the pandemic period – at 60.7 per cent.
B.C.’s employment growth over the last year has been concentrated among 25- to 54-year-olds, whose employment increased by 48,000 or 2.5 per cent between October 2024 and October 2025. At the same time, employment among youth fell modestly, and was little changed among people aged 55 and older.
"Despite broad-based softness, core-working age employment has shown some resilience,” continued Mathison. “British Columbian youth on the other hand, have faced an increasingly challenging labour market as job vacancies have fallen to multi-year lows.”
As of September 2025, employers were actively recruiting for just over 78,000 unfilled positions, down 16.3 per cent compared with September 2024. B.C.’s job vacancy rate – the number of vacant positions as a proportion of total labour demand – was 3.1 per cent, down from 3.7 per cent in September 2024.
“A resolution to the current trade dispute would be most impactful in the short-term and allow businesses to operate with more certainty,” concluded Mathison. “That, in tandem with investing towards sustainable growth and supporting B.C.’s most affected industries, are crucial moving forward.”
To learn more, see https://www.bccpa.ca/.
CPABC Media Contact:
Jack Blackwell, Economist
604.259.1143
news@bccpa.ca
About CPA British Columbia
The Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC) is the training, governing, and regulatory body for over 40,000 CPA members and 6,000 CPA candidates and students. CPABC carries out its primary mission to protect the public by enforcing the highest professional and ethical standards and contributing to the advancement of public policy.
