Fewer people found themselves employed in Prince George during August.
According to the Labour Division survey from Stats Canada, the northern capital’s unemployment rate came in at 6.5% – up nearly a point from July where it was 5.7.
Analyst, Vince Ferrao spoke with MyPGNow.com.
“There was a slight decline in the number of people working. We had 43,200 people working this August, compared to 44,500 and this had an impact on increasing the unemployment rate.”
BC’s employment picture looked a little better with an unemployment rate of 6.2% last month, dropping close to a half-point from July’s mark of 6.6.
“Over the past 12 months employment has grown by 8.1%. That’s about 200,000 more people working in the province.”
Minister of Jobs Ravi Khalon provided the following comments on the Labour Force Survey:
“In areas throughout the province, our job recovery rate has been strong, led by Prince George at 108.1%. Other notable job recovery rates are in the Cariboo at 105.7%, Thompson-Okanagan at 105.6%, Vancouver Island-Coast at 104.1%, the Kootenays at 102.8%, the Lower Mainland at 102.2%, North Coast-Nechako at 101.4% and Vancouver at 101.0%.”
“The Labour Force Survey for August shows that B.C. is making great strides in our economic recovery with another 14,400 jobs gained throughout the province – 13,600 of these jobs are among women. All job gains are full-time.”
In Canada, the jobless rate fell to 7.1% after employment rose by 90-thousand.
Here is the breakdown by provinces:
- Manitoba 5.7%
- Quebec 5.8%
- British Columbia 6.2%
- Saskatchewan 7.0%
- Ontario 7.6%
- Nova Scotia 7.8%
- Alberta 7.9%
- New Brunswick 9.3%
- PEI 10.6%
- Newfoundland and Labrador 12.1%