Employment statistics highlight still-tough times in B.C.’s forestry sector

By Derrick Penner
Vancouver Sun
March 19, 2026
Category: Business & Politics
Region: Canada, Canada West

Last year was hard on workers in some industries within B.C.’s resource sector, particularly forestry, and 2026 doesn’t look like it’s starting much better. Statistics Canada’s February labour force survey, the report that tracks overall unemployment, tracked job losses in both the natural resources and manufacturing sectors for both the previous month and for the 12 months since the same month in 2025. Natural resources … had a year-over-year loss of 9,300 jobs from February 2025 to February 2026. The manufacturing classification, which includes lumber production, had a year-over-year loss of 12,200, according to StatCan. StatCan’s … survey of employment and payroll counted at least 1,200 job losses in forestry, which include logging and supporting jobs, and at least 800 job losses in sawmills between December 2024 and December 2025. …“The worst was probably in the fourth quarter (of 2025) when the full bite of the duties hit, and then the (U.S.) tariffs,” said industry consultant Russ Taylor. “That’s when we saw a lot more of the jobs falling off.”

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