BC continues to lead the country in job creation and employment but it seems like the Cariboo is being left behind.
Andrew Fields, a Labour Market Analyst with Stats Canada, says employment rose by 12 thousand jobs in BC in July lowering the unemployment rate to 5.6 percent.
Both of those figures are number one in the country.
It is a much different story however here in the Cariboo where employment is stagnant.
Fields says the unemployment rate here was 8.3 percent last month, up from 7.9 in July of 2015, and he says there were around 79 thousand people working last month, which was basically unchanged from the same period a year earlier.
He says there were roughly 4 thousand more people working in the goods producing sectors…agriculture, manufacturing, construction and natural resources.
But Fields says they were offset by losses in the service industries like accommodation and food services, public administration and wholesale and retail trade.
Fields says there were more people in the Cariboo looking for work which increased the unemployment rate slightly.