The May 2022 Surrey Labour Market Intelligence Report has been released by the Surrey Board of Trade.
“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, a close matching of skills supply to the needs of enterprises and labour markets, enabling workers and enterprises to adjust to changes in technology and markets and anticipating and preparing for the skills needs of the future,” said Anita Huberman, President & CEO, Surrey Board of Trade. “This will fuel innovation, investment, economic diversification and competitiveness, as well as social and occupational mobility.”
Surrey’s economic recovery from the pandemic continues to be driven by a two-pronged strength: knowledge-based industries and resource industries.
1. Employment in Surrey in April 2022 was an estimated 2.7% or 7,868 jobs above employment before the pandemic in February 2020 and almost 33,000 higher than the lowest period in April 2020.
2. The sectors most impacted and still not fully recovered in Surrey are construction, accommodation & food services, finance/insurance/real estate, and other services, totalling a loss of over 98,000 jobs.
3. The sectors showing the greatest recovery are health care & social assistance, public administration, professional, scientific, and technical services, transportation & warehousing and natural resources.
4. The biggest recovery by occupation in Surrey since February 2020 has been business, finance & administration with over 7,367 new jobs, for a 17.7% increase. Other occupational categories with significant job increases in Surrey are education, law & social, community and government services; natural & applied sciences; manufacturing & utilities; and health positions, which increased by over 2,463 jobs or 11.5%.
5. Employment in most Surrey industries and occupational categories has rebounded to levels above the pre-pandemic period of February 2020. Lagging construction employment and the slow recovery of sales & service, trades (construction related) and services impacted by COVID restrictions (e.g., accommodation, food service, group events, etc.) continue to be of concern.
