Unemployment Drops in P.G.
Prince George, B.C.- The Unemployment rate for September in Prince George was 6.1%, down from the 7.3% recorded in the same month a year ago.
“That decrease is not statistically significant” says Statistics Canada’s Andrew Fields. He says there were 48,000 people in the workforce in Prince George last month, while there were 48,200 in September of 2015.
There was little change in the Cariboo region, with the unemployment rate slipping to 7.4% down from 7.7% of a year ago.
It is the overall B.C. numbers which are the real story says Fields. With an unemployment rate of 5.7% last month , compared to 6.4% in September of last year, B.C. has the lowest unemployment rate in the country. He says employment growth from September of 2015 is 2.6%, with 62 thousand more people working in this Province. That employment growth rate is well above the national employment growth rate of 0.8%
Nationally the unemployment rate was unchanged at 7%.
Comments
Actually the proper way to say this is there are less people drawing EI premiums.
That is how they determine unemployment stats ( which can be bent and twisted to suit any ones cause) not drawing you got to be working.
Some truth to that, just hope we don’t see anymore closures of manufacturing plants. Was up in FSJ interesting the number of local people in the peace not getting jobs at site C Seems many of the out of Province contractors bring their own qualified workers. Lots applying just no response. Government has to watch this shit its our money building site C
Perhaps if they hired local contractors there would be more locals working. Unfortunately Alberta contractors are buying the work just to survive and BC Hydro takes lowest bids, not giving merits to BC contractors
A lower unemployment rate, when mines and sawmills have closed in the area (net loss of jobs) can only be explained by people leaving the area to find jobs elsewhere, or people just giving up looking for a job. How else to explain the decrease in unemployment numbers, without any net increase in news jobs in the area?
That was my first thought…people have moved on. But there still seems to be a large market for brand new 4000 sq. ft homes in PG. Lots of drug dealers ?
Retired folks from the lower mainland, looking for a place where the cost of living won’t put them in the poor house? Yet that doesn’t explain the building of a few new 4000 sq. foot homes…
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