Unemployment continues to go up while employment goes down in BC.
That comes from Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey for August, showing that Canada has 20.5 million people currently employed, a 0.1 percent increase from July.
They say that unemployment did go up by 0.2 percent, with the national unemployment rate now at 6.6 percent, making it the highest it has been since May 2017.
They say for BC, their employment rate dropped from 2.84 million in July to 2.839 million last month, making it a 0.2 percent decrease. Their unemployment rate went up by 0.3 percent, currently sitting at 5.8 percent.
Despite the rise in unemployment, BC’s Minister of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation Brenda Bailey says they have seen an increase in jobs.
“B.C. has gained 34,000 private-sector jobs since this time last year, the third largest increase among provinces,” said Bailey.
She says 9,800 jobs were added to the sector last month, with construction, wholesale, retail, and manufacturing all seeing job increases ranging from 6,700 to 31,700.
Bailey adds since August last year, 48,000 full-time jobs have been added.
For the full survey, click here.
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