People looking for work who can't find it

Statistics Canada's standard error of the year-over-year change is 0.8 points, so the 95% margin is about 1.6 points; the +0.6-point change is smaller than that. Over 5 years (since 2021-10) the change is 11.6% of the earlier value, at or above the 5% threshold, so the label also says Worse over 5 years.

A lower number means a smaller share of people who want a job are without one. 4.8% in the three months to October 2026 compared with 4.2% a year earlier (+0.6 percentage points; 95% survey margin about 1.6 points).

Outcome measures read Better, Worse or About the same; published government targets read Ahead of, On or Behind target; value-judgement measures read Rising, Falling or Steady in a neutral colour. A change smaller than the agency's own margin of error, or otherwise smaller than 5% of the earlier value, is About the same (or Steady). No change is calculated across a marked break in a series. The rule.

Why it matters. Jobs and income are what make the cost of living manageable.

• This comes from the Labour Force Survey, a sample survey, so it is an estimate. For the latest month, the standard error of the year-over-year change is about 0.8 percentage points, so small changes may just be sampling noise.
• City-level estimates are noisier than national ones, which is why Statistics Canada publishes a three-month moving average.
• The area is the Victoria census metropolitan area, which is larger than the City of Victoria.
• The unemployment rate does not show job quality, wages, or people who have stopped looking for work.
• The B.C. and Canada lines are the same measure from the same Statistics Canada table. They are comparisons, not goals: no government has set an unemployment target for Greater Victoria.
• Longer views (10 years and All) show Statistics Canada's yearly average for each calendar year (table 14-10-0461-01). Both tables start in 2011, when Statistics Canada's current census metropolitan area boundaries begin, so earlier years are not shown. The 5-year view shows each month.

What

Wages by metropolitan area

Who could publish it

Statistics Canada

Status

Not published as data. Not asked for yet.

This page uses the best public number we found. Data requests

Area: Greater Victoria (CMA)

Statistics Canada’s Victoria metropolitan area: 13 municipalities plus nearby electoral-area and reserve lands.

Included

• Victoria
• Saanich
• Oak Bay
• Esquimalt
• View Royal
• Langford
• Colwood
• Highlands
• Metchosin
• Sooke
• Central Saanich
• North Saanich
• Sidney
• Juan de Fuca electoral area, part 1 (for example East Sooke, Jordan River and Shirley)
• First Nations reserves: Cole Bay 3, Union Bay 4, East Saanich 2, South Saanich 1, Becher Bay 1, Esquimalt, New Songhees 1A and T'Sou-ke

Not included

• Salt Spring Island
• Southern Gulf Islands (Galiano, Mayne, Pender and Saturna islands)
• Port Renfrew area (Juan de Fuca electoral area, part 2)

Official definition

• Statistics Canada: Victoria census metropolitan area (CMA 935), 2021 definition

How the agency describes it: Victoria census metropolitan area (Greater Victoria).

This number is published by the agency as shown; it is not calculated here. The script reads it from the agency’s own file.

Published under an open licence: anyone may reuse it with credit. About licences.

Published by

Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey

Licence

Open Government Licence - Canada

Updated by agency

Monthly; latest release Nov 6, 2026

Retrieved

Nov 12, 2026, 1:26 PM B.C. time

Adapted from Statistics Canada, table 14-10-0459-01. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product. Adapted from Statistics Canada, table 14-10-0327-01. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.