The new year started off on the right foot when it came to employment in Prince George.
The January Labour Force Survey was released on Friday and was very kind to the northern capital.
The city saw its biggest declines on a year-over-year basis.
“The unemployment rate is at seven percent down compared to the eight-point-one percent from a year ago. The number of people employed also increased, a year ago, we had 46,700 people at work and this year we have 49,300 people,” says Vincent Ferrao, Labour Division Analyst at Statistics Canada.
Several sectors within the city saw employment gains as a result.
“Retail and wholesale trade went up also finance insurance, real estate, and leasing, we have more people working in that sector and also we a spike in health care assistance.”
Provincially, BC still has the lowest unemployment rate in the country at 4.8%, a half a point below Manitoba (5.6%) and Saskatchewan (5.4%).
Over the past year, 59,500 more people are working in the province.
In Canada, the unemployment rate sits at 5.9%.