There was a big drop in the year over year unemployment rate in the Cariboo region last month.
Vincent Ferrao, a Labour Market Analyst with Stats Canada, goes over some of the numbers.
” The unemployment rate came in at 5.5 percent for November. A year ago it was 9.8 percent so it was much higher.”
The 5.5 is the lowest the unemployment rate in the Cariboo has been since it was 5.4 percent in July of 2019.
Ferrao says the main reason for the decline however, was that there were fewer people looking for work, although there were also more people working in the region.
“We have 86,300 people working in the Cariboo region. A year ago we had 85,500 so not much of a change.”
In terms of the different sectors in the job market, Ferrao says there were some minor changes.
“Both construction and natural resources are up a little bit year over year. In the service industries we have accommodation and food that is up a little bit and public administration is up a little bit. We are seeing declines in a couple of them. Transportation and Warehousing and also healthcare and social assistance has fewer people year over year.”
The Cariboo’s jobless rate is lower than the national rate of 6 percent and BC’s rate of 5.6.
Quebec continues to have the lowest unemployment rate in the country at 4.5 percent.
UNEMPLOYMENT RATES ACROSS THE COUNTRY
1. Quebec 4.5
2. Manitoba 5.1
3. Saskatchewan 5.2
4. BC 5.6
5. Ontario 6.4
6. Alberta 7.6
7. PEI 8.0
8. Nova Scotia 8.1
9. New Brunswick 8.2
10 Newfoundland 10.4