B.C. shed 11,000 jobs in October, mostly due to a decline in part-time jobs, Statistics Canada reported Friday.
The decline was mirrored in Ontario, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, the national statistical agency said.
Canada lost some 54,000 jobs in October, following an increase in September.
Statistics Canada said October’s loss pushed the unemployment rate up 0.2% to 7.3%.
The majority of job losses across Canada in October occurred in manufacturing and construction sectors.
Natural resources industries posted notable gains in the tenth month of the year.
Since October 2010, employment in B.C. has grown by 0.9%, which is slower than the national growth rate of 1.4%.
Last month, Premier Christy Clark unveiled her BC Jobs Plan, which has outlined an overall strategy the government plans to implement to stimulate job growth across the province.
Although the Liberal government has included industries such as technology, tourism and education as part of the plan, natural resource sectors such as mining, forestry and natural gas figure largely in the plan.
The Toronto Stock Exchange, Canada’s benchmark index, fell 130 basis points to 12,337.43 Friday following the release of the jobs data.
Still, Statistics Canada noted that full-time employment has increased 1.6% or 226,000 compared with the same month a year ago.
Joel McKay
@jmckaybiv