##ilience in the past couple of years. that resilience could be seriously tested by covid - 19, however, depending on the severity and duration of its effects. so, before i discuss yesterday ’ s interest rate decision in detail, let me spend a few minutes on the foundation of that resilience — canada ’ s strong labour market. today ’ s labour market the basic story of the canadian labour market is similar to that of a number of other major economies. even though unemployment is low, there is a sense of unease among many people. some worry about being displaced by technology or foreign competition, others about finding stable work in the gig economy. still, the numbers clearly show that the canadian labour market is in good health overall. last 1 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches year, nearly 300, 000 jobs were created in canada. the unemployment rate was below 6 percent throughout 2019, near its lowest in more than 40 years. meanwhile, wage growth has increased from around 2 percent to near 3 percent. importantly, the quality of jobs is also improving. there are a few ways to look at job quality. first, job gains have been concentrated in full - time work. second, the share of people working parttime involuntarily has shrunk to near the lowest in more than a decade. the bank will publish a comprehensive staff analytical note in the coming weeks that looks at a wider range of indicators of earnings, job security and work - life balance. it shows that job quality has clearly improved in canada over the past five years. another sign of labour market health is that many people are changing jobs to get a better match with their skills and experience — a process economists call churn. nationwide, churn is now at levels last seen more than a decade ago, before the global financial crisis. the latest available data show that canadians who change jobs are seeing their wages rise by 12 to 14 percent. there is little doubt that this job switching is raising productivity in the economy, and the latest data do indeed show a rising trend in productivity. there is more. it is taking less time on average for unemployed people to find jobs. and there are more than half a million job vacancies in the economy. this meshes with what i hear from business leaders across the country, who say that their biggest challenge is finding qualified people to fill existing vacancies. of course, these are all national statistics, which mask some pretty stark regional variations. we

are well aware of the difficulties facing oil - producing regions, for example. the 50 percent plunge in oil prices back in late - 2014 contributed to a similar drop in investment spending. combined with ongoing transportation constraints, this boosted alberta ’ s unemployment rate, which was around 4. 5 percent before the oil price shock, to over 9 percent by late 2016, with young men facing the highest unemployment. the latest jobless rate in alberta is 7. 3 percent. this tells you that, while the economy is adjusting, it remains a long and difficult process. on the other side of the coin, labour markets have been quite tight outside of the prairies, according to our business outlook survey. and two of the provinces with the strongest economies, british columbia and quebec, also feature the highest job vacancy rates. another key measure of labour market health is the participation rate. this is the percentage of working - age people who are either employed or actively looking for work. a rising participation rate can signal that people who dropped out of the labour force earlier are returning. this is good for their own prospects and for the country ’ s economic potential. participation rates fell sharply in the wake of the global financial crisis and the slow recovery that followed. at the time, a major preoccupation for the bank was the possibility that people would be unemployed for so long that their skills would become less valuable — a process economists call labour market scarring. fortunately, labour force participation rates have risen in all age groups. this makes the recordlow unemployment rates we are seeing doubly impressive, especially given the setbacks we have had along the way, such as the drop in oil prices. this is not to argue that higher labour force participation is always a good thing. for seniors, for example, it could mean either that they are happily extending their working lives or that they need to work longer because they are not fully prepared for retirement. still, when you look at all the indicators, you can see that the labour market has been, and continues to be, a source of resilience for the canadian economy. a solid, secure job is the primary basis for consumer confidence and household spending, which is the primary engine of growth of any economy. 2 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches that said, it is also plain to see that there is still work to do. sectoral weakness in the prairie provinces and in atlantic canada remains a concern. on another front, canada ’ s population includes several groups that