The number of Squamish employment insurance (EI) recipients has risen 6.8 per cent since March 2010, giving out-of-work locals no option but to continue looking for work or commute long distances to make ends meet.
According to the latest EI figures released by Statistics Canada, most B.C. communities experienced sharp declines in the number of people collecting regular EI benefits.
From March 2010 to March 2011, the number of people receiving EI in Squamish rose from 440 to 470. The Squamish increase was the highest in the province and Mayor Greg Gardner blames post-Olympic job slump and an oversaturated market.
"It's not a surprise to our community," he said. "We had an incredible increase in job demand in our community in years leading up to the Olympics through various projects - some directly related to the Olympics like the Callaghan Valley and some indirectly related such as the Sea to Sky [Highway] improvement project."
He said those projects resulted in a Squamish population increase from 2003 to 2010.
"I think we all expected that maybe those jobs would go away post-Olympics and they have gone away," he said.
"There were a number of people who relocated to Squamish to take advantage of those jobs and they do not want to leave, so there is perhaps an oversupply of employees in the area right now."
However, several long-term locals who have been on EI in the past year say they're "looking for solutions rather than excuses."
Joel Prevost agreed there was tons of work leading up to the Olympics, but he expected to be able to find work in his hometown post-Olympics.
"I didn't expect to be jobless because they promised that with the Olympics all this new tourism and Squamish interest would be coming in and there would be tons of jobs to do afterwards," he said.
"But I guess no one really took the initiative to make anything new actually happen."
A self-proclaimed "jack of all trades" with experience in roofing, carpentry and other labour jobs, Prevost had plenty of work leading up to the Olympics, but has been receiving EI on and off since March 2010.
"I collected EI for six months after the Olympics, then I had work for another eight, and then I went on EI again," he said.
"Council's not doing the best job of trying to do anything for anybody there's no industry in town and there needs to be. Most work's in tourism and there's not even much of that."
The lack of local jobs has Squamish residents turning their minds and filling their gas tanks to jobs elsewhere - some travel as far as Chilliwack and Bowen Island on a daily basis.
Sean Goodwin, who also grew up in Squamish, moved back from a year-long stint in Vancouver last fall but couldn't find work in any type of labour job - roofing, construction, concrete foundations, etc.
He spent six months on EI trying to find local work but when his EI ran out in March 2011 with no local job prospects, he had to bite the bullet and take a job building houses on Bowen Island.
Goodwin spends almost four hours a day commuting, but feels he has no other option.
"I have to commute to Bowen Island every day - I leave at 6 a.m. and usually get back after 6 p.m.," he said, adding it's difficult to have the energy to do much else after a 12-hour day.
"I do this not because I want to but because I have to."
Goodwin, 24, has had steady Squamish work since he graduated.
"This is the hardest it's ever been finding work here in Squamish," said Goodwin. "Since I finished high school there's always been opportunities for me here and now there's absolutely nothing going on.
"I would love a job in Squamish and I'm hoping that's what comes up soon, but right now it's proving to be quite a struggle."
Gardner said he's hopeful that many of the workers who have remained in the area after the jobs dried up will find new employment as the region's forestry and tourism economies gain momentum.
"I'm optimistic that jobs are continuing to be created in our community," said Gardner, adding that Squamish is emerging as the business centre for the corridor with the recent addition of London Drugs, Shoppers Drug Mart and Wal-Mart.
"We're also in a community that's projected to have strong growth and that generates economic activity in housing and business construction."
Between 2006 and 2009 there were never more than 250 EI beneficiaries in Squamish, but that number started to rise in March 2009.
Across the province, the number of British Columbians receiving regular EI benefits fell by almost five per cent in March 2011, marking one of the biggest declines in monthly EI numbers across the country.
Across Canada, the number of people receiving EI declined in March for the sixth straight month. Along with B.C., the biggest declines were in Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario.
