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Surrey Board of Trade report reveals ‘impressive’ 32% job recovery in construction

Meantime, there were 6,949 jobs lost in business, finance and administration and health
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Surrey Board of Trade report indicates 32 per cent job recovery growth in construction, by roughly 7,700 jobs. (File photo)

The Surrey Board of Trade’s Labour Market Intelligence Report for February reveals an “impressive” 32 per cent job recovery in construction, by roughly 7,700 jobs.

Anita Huberman, CEO of the board, noted Surrey’s construction and education service sectors drove employment growth in the past 12 months with nearly 10,700 new jobs combined, “or twice the overall job growth in Surrey during this period.”

Meantime, there were 6,949 jobs lost in business, finance and administration and health.

Though three of Surrey’s four largest employment sectors – manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, as well as health care and social services – have lost jobs since January 2022, construction led the recovery of jobs.

Trades, transport and equipment operator jobs enjoyed the largest growth the last 12 months with over 6,700 new positions for an increase of nearly 12 per cent while management positions also saw “major” job growth but the natural resources sector lost 915 jobs, making for a 23 per cent decrease.

READ ALSO: Construction sector in Surrey continues to lag in job recovery

According to the board’s report, employment in Surrey over the past 12 months grew by an estimated 5,000 jobs, or 1.6 per cent, since January 2022.

Huberman noted that while this growth was significant, it was much smaller than that between January 2021 and January 2022, which saw nearly 13,000 jobs or 4.2 per cent as part of COVID-19 recovery since 2020.

“Tracking labour market trends in an ongoing way is important to ensure our policy framework is focused on developing a suitably skilled workforce, a broad availability of good-quality education as a foundation for future training, and a close matching of skills supply to the needs of enterprises and labour markets. It enables workers and enterprises to adjust to changes in technology and markets, and to anticipate and prepare for the skills needs of the future,” Huberman said. “This will fuel innovation, investment, economic diversification and competitiveness, as well as social and occupational mobility.”

She noted that while over the past year Surrey saw more “subdued” employment growth – 1.6 per cent compared to2.4 per cent per year during the previous 12-month period – it “continues to grow its economy, population and labour force.”



tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com

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About the Author: Tom Zytaruk

I write unvarnished opinion columns and unbiased news reports for the Surrey Now-Leader.
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