What a difference a year makes.
Stats Canada Analyst Vincent Ferrao said the unemployment rate in the Cariboo was 8.8% back in January 2021 and is currently 3.2%.
Ferrao also went over the employment numbers which are trending upwards.
“For the 3-month average ending in January employment was 88-thousand 6-hundred. If we compare the number to a year ago, January 2021, there was a bit fewer people working, 84-thousand 9-hundred.”
Where the Cariboo is seeing an increase in employment Ferrao said it’s in the construction sector, there was also a little bit of a gain in wholesale and retail, accommodation and food services, and there was a bit of a decline in health care and social assistance.
Provincially BC is tied with Manitoba for the lowest unemployment rate in Canada at 5.1%.
In Canada, employment fell by 200-thousand bringing the jobless mark to 6.5 last month after it was 6.0% in December.