Up a bit from last month but down quite a bit from a year ago.
That sums up the Cariboo region’s unemployment rate in July.
Vincent Ferrao, a Labour Market Analyst with Stats Canada, says “the unemployment rate was 4.8 percent for the three month average ending in July. The 3-month average ending in June was 5.5, and then the same time a year ago it was 7.9.”
That is the 5th straight month that the jobless rate was down compared to 12 months earlier.
Ferrao says there were roughly 27-hundred more people working in the region compared to a year ago.
“The increases came in the services producing sector. Healthcare and social assistance went up, accommodation and food services went up a little bit and wholesale and retail trade went up also. In the goods producing sector, we had fewer people employed in natural resources. Construction remained stable and a bit more in manufacturing.”
The national jobless rate in July was unchanged at 6.4 percent.
BC had the second lowest unemployment rate in the country at 5.5 percent.
Only Saskatchewan was lower at 5.4.
Here is a breakdown of all the provinces:
Saskatchewan 5.4%
Britsh Columbia 5.5%
Quebec/Manitoba 5.7%
Ontario 6.7%
Nova Scotia 7.0%
Alberta 7.1%
New Brunswick 7.2%
Prince Edward Island 8.9%
Newfoundland and Labrador 9.6%
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