Unemployment Rate in Prince George Rises to 7.7 Per Cent
Prince George, B.C. – The unemployment rate in Prince George rose a full two points year over year in March according to newly released figures from Stats Canada.
Labour analyst Vincent Ferrao says it rose from 5.7 per cent in March 2016, to 7.7 per cent last month.
He says 46,900 people were working in March 2017, slightly more than the 46,400 that were working the same month a year earlier.
Ferrao attributes the increase in unemployment to “more people coming into the labour force looking for work.”
In the Cariboo, he says the unemployment rose from 6.7 per cent in March 2016 to 10 per cent last month.
“A significant change. We did have more employment – it increased by 2,700 workers this March compared to last March. However, the labour force increased by much more (6,000).”
Regionally, he says the retail and wholesale sector employed the most workers (roughly 12,000). About 6,300 people worked in the natural resources sector and another 6,300 worked in construction.
Provincially, Ferrao says B.C. continues to lead the country in job growth at 3.5 per cent year over year – resulting in 81,900 more full-time jobs.
He says the new jobs were spread out – with 19,000 in the finance/insurance/real estate sector. Another 19,000 in the information/culture/recreation sector and about 16,000 in construction.
The unemployment rate dropped a full point to 5.4 per cent – the lowest among all the provinces.
Federally Ferrao says the unemployment rate dipped from 7.1 per cent to 6.7 per cent with a growth rate of 1.5 per cent. That was good for 276,000 new jobs.
Comments
Meanwhile the unemployment rate for the Northern BC region remains relatively unchanged at 12.7% between March 17, 2017 and April 8, 2017.
Someone last month stated the high unemployment rate up here was due, in part to the seasonal spring break-up for logging operations, I mentioned that it was too early for those numbers to affect the unemployment statistics for Northern BC. However, now that spring break-up has just occurred, there should be a sight spike in the unemployment number for next month.
ht tp://srv129.services.gc.ca/rbin/eng/rates_cur.aspx
Maybe Premier Pixie Dust will bring her big smile , hard hat , two local jobs elves to town for a photo op and sprinkle her pixie dust on everyone . It seems to sell every time .
Good one hahahaha
now that’s funny made me laugh
Ataloss knows all about pixie dust, his power source.
Beats 14.2 percent unemployment in the northern region back in 1998/99
PG has more people working than last year but also more people looking for work so the rate goes up, interesting
BC’s unemployment rates for the first five (5) years under the BC NDP during the 1990’s:
1991-10.0%; 1992-10.5%; 1993-9.7%; 1994-9.4%; 1995-9.0%
Seems pretty good to me, particularly in relation to some other parts of Canada at the time, no wonder job creation in BC lead the rest of Canada in job growth under the BC NDP!
ht tp://www.fin.gov.bc.ca/archive/budget97/bcleads.gif
Pixie Dust, lol good one wave the wand make it all better
Don’t forget the rose coloured glasses produced in the liberal job creation factory.
In spite of the usual complaints from some on this site regarding the Site C project and what they perceive as a lack of BC workers onsite, it’s nice to see that two Fort St. John companies are “aiming to keep jobs local and make their mark on a big project that is set to get underway later this year.”
“Western Canadian Construction Properties and Peace Enterprises which are both located in the Energetic City, placed bids for the project. Bidding closed as of Thursday.”
ht tps://energeticcity.ca/2017/04/two-local-companies-running-contract-site-c-bc-housing-project-fort-st-john/
Ah yes, Site C; the biggest “make work” project in the history of BC!!!
Unlike you Peeps, most people need a real job! After all, just how many paid NDP trolls do you think that the NDP can afford to hire?
You never did say what you did for a living? Is “paid NDP Troll” your regular job or do you work elsewhere and just get paid part-time by the NDP?
CTV Vancouver reported this evening the latest job numbers are out and Canada has added just over 19,000 jobs last month, most of them full time!
CTV Vancouver also reported that BC has the lowest unemployment rate in Canada!
Yup, the last thing we need is an NDP Government, or as my Mama used to say, “we need that just about as much as we need another hole in our heads!
You neglected a couple of very important part of the 19,000 jobs added (19,400 actually).
The report found that 95 per cent of all new jobs created last month were full-time. But it also found that 95 per cent of all new jobs were self-employed positions. So people are so desperate for work they’re having to do it for themselves. There’s nothing wrong with that, as it means people are industrious. Just don’t give me a BC Liberal stinking egg and a call it a soufflé.
Also wage growth is weak at 1.1% which hasn’t been seen since the 1990s.
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