An overview of the service sector
There are eleven main industries in the service
sector:
Table 1 shows the ranking of these industries,
based on employment in 2005. The largest employer in services is wholesale and
retail trade, followed by health care and social assistance, and accommodation
and food services. Business, building and other support services, with 90,300
workers, is the smallest employer in the service sector.
As was the case in the goods sector, the
ranking changes considerably when real GDP is used to make the comparison.
Based on GDP, finance, insurance, real estate and leasing is the biggest
industry in the service sector, and substantially larger than any of the
goods-producing industries. However, it's ranked sixth out of 11 service sector
industries based on employment. In contrast, accommodation and food, which employs
about 8% of the workforce, makes a much smaller contribution (3%) to BC's total
GDP.
Table 2 summarizes some of the key economic
and labour force variables for industries within this sector.
| |
2005 Data |
2004 Data |
| Employment |
% of total services |
% of total employment |
% of GDP, services |
% of total GDP |
| Total all industries |
2,130.5 |
|
100.0 |
|
100.0 |
| Service sector |
1,677.8 |
100.0 |
78.8 |
100.0 |
72.7 |
| |
Wholesale & retail trade |
334.6 |
19.9 |
15.7 |
15.5 |
11.3 |
| |
Health Care & social assistance |
217.4 |
13.0 |
10.2 |
8.9 |
6.5 |
| |
Accommodation & food services |
175.8 |
10.5 |
8.3 |
4.3 |
3.1 |
| |
Professional, scientific & technical services |
163.3 |
9.8 |
7.7 |
5.5 |
4.0 |
| |
Educational services |
146.1 |
8.7 |
6.9 |
6.5 |
4.7 |
| |
Finance, insurance, real estate & leasing |
132.9 |
7.9 |
6.2 |
30.3 |
22.0 |
| |
Transportation & warehousing |
118.7 |
7.1 |
5.6 |
8.7 |
6.3 |
| |
Information, culture & recreation |
112.1 |
6.7 |
5.3 |
7.2 |
5.2 |
| |
Public administration |
95.1 |
5.7 |
4.5 |
7.1 |
5.1 |
| |
Other services |
91.2 |
5.4 |
4.3 |
3.8 |
2.7 |
| |
Business, building & other support services |
90.3 |
5.4 |
4.2 |
2.5 |
1.8 |
Data
Source: Statistics Canada & BC Stats
Table 1
| |
2005 Data |
Average (1990-2005) |
| Average hourly wage rate |
Usual hours |
% Full-time |
% Self-employed |
% Male |
Unemployment rate (%) |
| Total all industries |
19.36 |
36.0 |
79.4 |
18.3 |
54.0 |
8.4 |
| Goods-producing sector |
20.20 |
40.3 |
91.1 |
21.1 |
80.4 |
9.1 |
| |
Wholesale & retail trade |
20.31 |
39.5 |
94.1 |
7.8 |
77.6 |
6.6 |
| |
Health Care & social assistance |
19.57 |
40.1 |
88.7 |
37.3 |
89.1 |
11.3 |
| |
Accommodation & food services |
12.69 |
41.4 |
77.6 |
47.7 |
59.3 |
11.6 |
| |
Professional, scientific & technical services |
23.60 |
- |
93.1 |
18.8 |
86.1 |
14.6 |
| |
Educational services |
25.67 |
- |
95.2 |
11.0 |
90.5 |
8.1 |
| |
Finance, insurance, real estate & leasing |
27.57 |
38.4 |
96.8 |
0.0 |
69.1 |
2.8 |
| |
Transportation & warehousing |
- |
- |
79.4 |
60.2 |
79.5 |
17.2 |
| |
Information, culture & recreation |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Public administration |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Other services |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Business, building & other support services |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Data Source: Statistics Canada
Table 2
|
