FOLLOWING the release of the Surrey Board of Trade’s Surrey Labour Market Intelligence Report for February 2024, Anita Huberman, President and CEO, SBOT, said on Wednesday: “The labour market in Surrey is exceeding expectations. There are still some sectors, specifically in the construction, retail and natural resource sectors, that continue to see challenges though.”

Employment in Surrey in January 2024 was an estimated 3.9% or 12,600 jobs above employment in January 2023.

The largest industry employment sectors in Surrey in January 2024 were a combination of goods-producing and knowledge-based, service-producing sectors:

1. Wholesale and retail trade (52,705 or 15.7% of total jobs in Surrey);
2. Health care and social assistance (43,239 or 12.8% of total jobs in Surrey);
3. Transportation and warehousing (33,539 or 10.0% of total jobs in Surrey);
4. Construction (31,494 or 9.4% of total jobs in Surrey); and,
5. Professional, scientific and technical services (26,672 or 7.9% of total jobs in Surrey).

The sectors with the most negative employment change in Surrey over the last 12 months are estimated to be:

1. Employment in business, building and other support services  again has the highest decline of 18.2% or 2,626 jobs;
2. The largest jobs sector, wholesale and retail trade, lost -1,642 of its jobs for a 3% drop; and
3. Surrey’s natural resource industries (agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining and oil and gas) collectively decreased in employment by 1,241 or a large 29.5% decline.

The four largest employment sectors by occupation in Surrey in January 2024 accounted for 214,676 jobs or almost 64% of the total employed:

1. Sales and services (79,529 or 23.6%);
2. Trades, transport and equipment operators (60,802 or 18.1%);
3. Business, finance and administration (47,160 or 14.0%); and,
4. Healthcare (27,185 or 8.1%).

Two key occupational categories in Surrey lost significant employment since January 2023:

1. Trades, transport and equipment operator positions in Surrey decreased by over 3,221 or -5%; and
2. Manufacturing and utilities positions experienced another decrease in employment over this period, declining by 7.5% or over almost 1,000 jobs.

In January 2024, the number of persons of working age (15 years old and over) is estimated to be 433,900 and growing – which is a 4% increase since 2016.

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