Employment Action in Prince George has issued a response on the climbing unemployment rate.
Facilitative Programs Manager, Kyla Kershaw says like many places, the city is experiencing a skills shortage.
“A lot of folks are leaving the workforce and are a lot of job openings but what’s happening is we have quite a skills gap in terms of the people who are able to fill the positions right now and the people who are leaving the old positions.”
Kershaw added that the amount of businesses closing downtown has also created some doubt.
“They’re seems to be a lack of confidence in terms of what will be available in the workforce because people are faced with the evidence of things closing down or shutting down.”
Last week Stats Canada released July’s job numbers with the unemployment rate in Prince George at 7.8 percent.
Just over 47 thousand people were employed last month compared to 51 thousand at the same time last year.
The provincial unemployment rate is hovering around 6 percent.