Canadian employment edged up in December despite employment losses in British Columbia.
The result was both nationally, and in B.C., the unemployment rate is 7.6%, according to Statistics Canada numbers released Friday.
Canadawide, employment grew by 22,000 jobs in December. It would have been more than double that had B.C. not lost 23,000 jobs in December, compared with December 2009.
B.C.’s job losses pushed the province’s unemployment rate up 0.7 points to 7.6%.
Nationally, the unemployment rate held steady at 7.6% compared with December 2009.
There were notable employment increases in December in manufacturing, transportation, warehousing and natural resources.
At the same time, however, there were employment losses in construction, health care and social assistance.