Seven thousand new jobs were created in B.C. in January, according to Statistics Canada.
The number of unemployed British Columbians dropped from 162,300 in December 2013 to 158,500 in January.
Canada-wide, employment increased by 29,000 new jobs in January, pushing the unemployment rate down to 7% – a drop of 0.2%.
Over the past year, 146,000 jobs were created in Canada, an increase of 0.8%. All were full-time jobs, according to TD Economics. There was actually a decrease (21,100) in part-time jobs Canada-wide.
Canada-wide, the job growth was largely from the service sector.
Four provinces – New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan – saw job contractions in January.
"When the December jobs numbers came in, we could not help but be taken aback at how bad they were," TD Economics said in its analysis. "We concluded at that point that the extent of job weakness was temporary and ultimately would prove fleeting. The numbers this morning proved our hunch correct.
"All in all, this was a positive employment report and should silence – at least temporarily –those worried about the Canadian economy stalling and/or falling off its own cliff."
