Over 51,000 people in Prince George held down a job during the month of April according to Stats Canada, up 3,000 when compared to the same month in 2017.
The spike in employment did wonders for the unemployment rate.
“The increase in employment pushed the unemployment rate down to 5.4% this April compared to 6.3%,” says Vince Ferrao, Labour Division Analyst.
The northern capital is also part of the Prince George-Cariboo region, which also saw a decent jump in people working.
“Employment is up about 3,500 over the 12 months, so we have 83,000 people working this April compared with just under 80,000 a year ago. The increases were equally split between full-time and part-time work – in terms of the unemployment rate, it is at 5.9% and a year ago it was at 8.9%.”
BC’s jobless rate sits at 5.0% and is still the lowest in the country.
Compared to the rest of the western provinces, Alberta (6.7%), Manitoba (6.1%) and Saskatchewan (6.3%) are all higher by about a point.
“In terms of the number of people working, we have 23,000 more people employed over the 12 months.”
In Canada, the unemployment rate is 5.8% – almost a full point higher than BC.
Two Maritime provinces ranked first and second for the highest unemployment rate in Canada.
They are Newfoundland and Labrador at 14.5% and Prince Edward Island at 12.1%.